Ember
Feminine · Old English roots
Ember is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 22,646 girls against 426 boys since 1880.
Ember is the English word for the coal that keeps glowing after the flame has gone out, and it comes down to us from Old English æmerge, with cousins in Old Norse and German. It has been on the American record for decades, mostly in the background, and only lately has it climbed in earnest. Two syllables, an easy open first sound, and a spelling that anyone who reads English can already handle.
How old is the name Ember?
Ember first appears in US birth records in 1946 — 79 years ago. The typical Ember is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 22,500 people named Ember are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ember most popular?
Ember peaked in 2024, reaching #135 nationally. Today it ranks #154, 19 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Where it comes from
From æmerge (Old English) to Ember
The story of Ember
Ember begins as an ordinary English word, inherited from Old English æmerge, meaning the hot coals left when the fire dies down. It stayed a word for centuries; the shift to a given name is recent, part of the broader American taste for nature and element names that also brought Willow, Wren and Aurora onto birth certificates. One curiosity worth knowing: the Ember Days of the Christian liturgical calendar have nothing to do with fire — that ember comes from Old English ymbren, meaning a circuit or turning of the year, and only looks like the same word by accident.
Meaning
a glowing coal or spark of a dying fire
From Old English æmerge, cognate with Old Norse eimyrja. The b crept in later, the same way it did in slumber and number — a small English habit of putting a consonant between m and r.
How the name formed
- æmergeOld English
- emmer / eymereMiddle English
- ember
- Ember
Pronouncing Ember
EM-bur
Stress on the first syllable, exactly like the everyday word. No competing pronunciations in English.
Nicknames for Ember
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
- 1946
- Most girls named
- 20242,183 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #135reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −10.6%1,952 in 2025, from 2,183
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.
Ember in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Embers among us
people named Ember are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 823 born in 2025 was named Ember
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 Maryann test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ember's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Maryann climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Maryann's path sketches the road Ember is walking now.
Ember is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ember is headed
Ember looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 15% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Ember beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ember in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way an ordinary English word is spelled, so most people write it correctly on the first try after hearing it.
- Two syllables with a clear stress — easy for a small child to say and to recognize in print.
- Em and Emmy are ready-made short forms with a long history of use, so the nickname question is already answered.
- Needs no translation or adjustment in any English-speaking country, and reads plainly to non-English speakers too.
- Ember and Amber differ by one vowel and get mixed up in speech, on phone calls and in noisy rooms. Expect a lifetime of gentle corrections, and of people assuming the more familiar of the two.
- The short forms Em and Emmy belong to Emma and Emily as much as to Ember, so she may well share a nickname with two other children in the same room.
- This one is climbing quickly. A child named Ember now will very likely be the only one in her school, but the name may feel considerably more familiar by the time she is grown — worth deciding whether rarity is part of the appeal.
- The fire image is vivid, which some families love and others find a touch intense for a word name. It is worth saying the name aloud with your surname a few times before committing.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Ember to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Ember? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Ember
Feminine · Old English roots · #154 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Embers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 22,500 people named Ember are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ember in 2025?
- Ember ranks #154 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,952 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ember?
- About 1 in every 823 US girls born in 2025 was named Ember — 1,952 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ember with classmates?
- Ember will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ember
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Piper#155 · Oaklynn#153 · Oakley#156 · Summer#151 · Samantha#151 · Phoebe#157 · June#150 · Arya#158
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ember? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ember and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle