Efrain
Masculine · “fruitful”
Efrain is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 18,557 boys against 29 girls since 1880.
Efrain is the Spanish road out of Hebrew Ephraim, a name written down in the Book of Genesis and still being given to babies now. Say it the Spanish way and it lifts at the end — eh-frah-EEN — three syllables that finish on a bright note rather than settling down. In the US it has done its steadiest work in California, Texas and Florida, carried by Spanish-speaking families for generations.
How old is the name Efrain?
Efrain first appears in US birth records in 1920 — 105 years ago. The typical Efrain alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 17,000 people named Efrain are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Efrain most popular?
Efrain peaked in 1981, reaching #469 nationally. Today it ranks #1492, 1,023 places below that high. See the whole 1981 chart.
Efrain appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Ephrayim to Efrain
The story of Efrain
The name begins as Hebrew Ephrayim, borne in Genesis by the younger son of Joseph, whose descendants became one of the tribes of Israel — so central that Ephraim later stood in the prophets as shorthand for the northern kingdom itself. Greek and Latin translators of the Hebrew scriptures carried it into Europe as Ephraim, and from there it moved into the Christian naming stock of many languages. Spanish reshaped it as Efraín, with the stress pulled onto the final syllable and marked by an accent. That form crossed into the United States with Spanish-speaking families, most often written without the accent, and became the Efrain of American records.
Meaning
fruitful
From the Hebrew root meaning to be fruitful or to bear fruit. Genesis gives the naming outright: Joseph calls his second son Ephraim because God has made him fruitful in the land of his affliction.
How the name formed
- Ephrayim
- Ephraim
- Efraín
- Efrain
Related forms: Efraín · Ephraim · Ephrayim · Efraim · Efrem · Yefrem
Pronouncing Efrain
eh-frah-EEN
That is the Spanish pronunciation, with the weight on the last syllable — the accent in Efraín is what marks it. Written without the accent, English speakers often shift to EF-ray-in or EF-rin, so many bearers answer to two versions depending on who is speaking.
Nicknames for Efrain
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
- 1920
- Most boys named
- 1993405 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #469reached in 1981
- Change vs 2023
- −15.1%118 in 2025, from 139
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.
Efrain in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Efraín in Spanish — spelling variant
- Ephraim in English — same name
- Ephrayim in Hebrew — transliteration
- Efraim in Portuguese — same name
- Efrem in Italian — related form
- Yefrem in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Efrains among us
people named Efrain are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 14,475 born in 2025 was named Efrain
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 Carlo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Efrain's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carlo climbed just as high around 1923, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carlo's path sketches the road Efrain is walking now.
Efrain 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
Where Efrain is headed
Efrain should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Efrain beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Efrain in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented name for roughly three thousand years, from Genesis onward, in continuous religious and everyday use.
- Reads and pronounces cleanly in Spanish, and stays recognizable to English speakers through its cousin Ephraim.
- Has a ready-made short form, Efra, already in real use rather than invented on the spot.
- Familiar in Spanish, Portuguese, English and beyond, so it travels across languages without translation.
- The accent matters. Efraín tells a reader where the stress falls; Efrain does not, so expect to correct the pronunciation fairly often in English-speaking settings.
- It will be confused in writing with Ephraim, and sometimes spelled Efrian or Efrayn. Worth deciding early which spelling goes on the paperwork and staying with it.
- Outside of Spanish-speaking communities a child named Efrain will likely be the only one in the school — pleasant for some families, a small daily explanation for others.
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What they receive
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Efrain
Masculine · #1492 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Efrains are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 17,000 people named Efrain are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Efrain in 2025?
- Efrain ranks #1492 among US boy names in 2025, with 118 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Efrain?
- About 1 in every 14,475 US boys born in 2025 was named Efrain — 118 in all.
- Will my child share the name Efrain with classmates?
- Efrain will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Efrain
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jermaine#1492 · Arjan#1492 · Kyair#1492 · Davi#1492 · Nickolas#1492 · Jassiel#1492 · Ziggy#1486 · Finnian#1486
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Efrain? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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