Efrem
Masculine · “Hebrew Efrayim”
Shibboleth is a word because of Ephraim. The men of Gilead held the fords of the Jordan and asked everyone who crossed to say it; the Ephraimites could not make the sh sound, and forty-two thousand were killed at the river.
How old is the name Efrem?
Efrem first appears in US birth records in 1926 — 99 years ago. The typical Efrem alive today was born around 1970, making them about 55 years old. About 1,400 people named Efrem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Efrem most popular?
Efrem peaked in 1967, reaching #814 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 9,881 places below that high. See the whole 1967 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Efrayim to Efrem
The story of Efrem
The episode in Judges is the earliest recorded use of a password that works by accent rather than by knowledge. Gileadites and Ephraimites spoke the same language with different phonologies, and the test word, shibboleth, an ear of grain or a stream, contained a sound the Ephraimites rendered differently; saying it identified them and got them killed. English borrowed the word in the seventeenth century for any custom or phrase that marks group membership, and it is still used that way in linguistics and politics. Ephraim, the tribe named in the story, was the dominant northern tribe, and the name is used in the prophets for the whole northern kingdom. The American peak in 1967 follows an actor of that name who led a network drama.
Meaning
Hebrew Efrayim, fruitful
From Hebrew Efrayim, generally read as fruitful or doubly fruitful, the name of Joseph's younger son and of the tribe descended from him. Efrem is a short spelling used in Russian and American records; the peak is 1967.
How the name formed
- Efrayim
- Ephraim
- Efrem
Related forms: Ephraim · Yefrem · Efrain
Pronouncing Efrem
EF-rum
Two syllables, stress on the first. Ephraim usually has two as well, EE-frum or EF-rah-im depending on the speaker.
Nicknames for Efrem
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
- 1926
- Most boys named
- 195985 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #814reached in 1967
- Change vs 2024
- −45.5%6 in 2025, from 11
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.
Efrem in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ephraim in English — spelling variant
- Yefrem in Russian — same name
- Efrain in Spanish — same name
Efrems among us
people named Efrem are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Efrem
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Efrem
- #10695
- Efrem on the 2025 chart
- #909
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Efrem went to 6 boys in 2025, but Ephrem is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 19, which makes it the 909th most-given boys’ name of the year — 9,786 places above the chart.
- Ephrem13
- Efrem6
About 1 boy in 89,899 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 284,679 for Efrem itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Darell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Efrem's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darell climbed just as high around 1948, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darell's path sketches the road Efrem is walking now.
Efrem 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
Efrem beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Efrem in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables and five letters, spelled as heard.
- The Hebrew meaning is documented and positive.
- Rem works as a short form.
- Ephraim is the standard English spelling.
- It will be heard as Efrain or Ephram.
- The 1967 peak dates this form.
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Efrem
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Efrems are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Efrem are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Efrem?
- Efrem is one of 2 recorded spellings. Ephrem is the more common one — 13 births in 2025 against 6 for Efrem.
- How popular is the name Efrem in 2025?
- Efrem ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Efrem?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Efrem — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Efrem with classmates?
- Efrem will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Efrem
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Efrem? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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