Enid
Feminine · “soul”
Enid is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 9,234 girls against 6 boys since 1880.
Enid is Welsh and belongs to one of the Mabinogi's most uncomfortable stories — a wife tested by a husband who has no right to test her.
How old is the name Enid?
Enid first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Enid alive today was born around 1935, making them about 90 years old. About 3,800 people named Enid are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Enid most popular?
Enid peaked in 1920, reaching #412 nationally. Today it ranks #4546, 4,134 places below that high. See the whole 1920 chart.
Where it comes from
From enaid to Enid
The story of Enid
In Geraint and Enid, the husband overhears a half-sentence, decides his wife thinks him a coward, and drags her on a long journey forbidding her to speak — during which she repeatedly saves his life by speaking anyway. Tennyson retold it in the Idylls of the King, which made the name popular in Victorian Britain. Enid Blyton kept it visible through the twentieth century.
Meaningscholars disagree
soul, life; or purity
Welsh enaid means soul or life, and the name is usually read from it; a reading from a word for a woodlark has also been offered. Neither is firmly established for the medieval name.
How the name formed
- enaid
- Enid
Related forms: Enid · Enid
Pronouncing Enid
EE-nid
Two syllables, first stressed. Welsh gives the same shape.
Nicknames for Enid
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
- 1885
- Most girls named
- 1921258 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #412reached in 1920
- Change vs 2022
- +7.1%30 in 2025, from 28
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.
Enid in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Enid in Welsh — same name
- Enid in English — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Missouri.
Enids among us
people named Enid are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 53,576 born in 2025 was named Enid
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 Leatha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Enid's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Leatha climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Leatha's path sketches the road Enid is walking now.
Enid 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 Enid is headed
Enid should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Enid beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Enid in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A genuine medieval Welsh name with a real literary history.
- Four letters and two syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It is strongly associated with the early twentieth century in Britain.
- The meaning is genuinely unsettled between two readings.
- The story attached to it is about a wife being unjustly tested.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Enid 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 Enid? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Enid
Feminine · #4546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Enids are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,800 people named Enid are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Enid in 2025?
- Enid ranks #4546 among US girl names in 2025, with 30 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Enid?
- About 1 in every 53,576 US girls born in 2025 was named Enid — 30 in all.
- Will my child share the name Enid with classmates?
- Enid will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Enid
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Amie#4546 · Rashell#4546 · Renatta#4546 · Raisa#4546 · Amena#4546 · Aryn#4546 · Nadiya#4546 · Jeanne#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Enid? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Enid 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.
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