Edsel
Masculine
This name rose because of a man and fell because of a car. Edsel Ford ran the Ford Motor Company for twenty-four years and the name was given to thousands of American children while he did. Fifteen years after his death the company put his name on a car, and the car became the standard word for a failure.
How old is the name Edsel?
Edsel first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Edsel alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 1,500 people named Edsel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Edsel most popular?
Edsel peaked in 1927, reaching #399 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 11,609 places below that high. See the whole 1927 chart.
Where it comes from
From ead to Edsel
The story of Edsel
Edsel Ford was Henry's only son, president of the company from 1919 until his death in 1943, and the man behind the Lincoln Continental and a good deal else his father resisted. The name was given steadily through the 1920s. The car came in 1958, was launched with enormous publicity, sold badly for three years and was withdrawn, losing an amount that was startling at the time; business schools have taught it ever since, and edsel entered American English as a common noun for an expensive flop. The family reportedly disliked the choice of name from the start. Very few names have been made and unmade so precisely by two events in the same company.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Usually traced to an English place name, Edeshale or similar, containing Old English ead, wealth or fortune — the element behind Edward, Edith and Edmund. The connection is standard and not proven. It became an American given name in the nineteenth century.
How the name formed
- ead
- Edsel
Pronouncing Edsel
ED-sul
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the second reduced. There is nothing ambiguous in the spelling.
Nicknames for Edsel
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1914
- Most boys named
- 1927224 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #399reached in 1927
- Change vs 2023
- −16.7%5 in 2025, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Edsels among us
people named Edsel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Edsel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Jewel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Edsel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jewel climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jewel's path sketches the road Edsel is walking now.
Edsel sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Edsel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Edsel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables that everyone reads correctly on sight.
- Ed and Eddie both work as short forms and one serves either child.
- A documented American bearer whose life can be looked up.
- The car is the first association for anyone over fifty and it is a byword for failure.
- Very few people carry it now and almost all of them are old.
- The derivation is standard rather than demonstrated.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Edsel
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Edsels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Edsel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Edsel in 2025?
- Edsel ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Edsel?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Edsel — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Edsel with classmates?
- Edsel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Edsel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Edsel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Edsel and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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