Eowyn
Feminine · Old English roots · “horse-joy”
Eowyn comes from one of the most carefully built invented languages in English literature: Tolkien assembled the speech of Rohan out of Old English, and this name out of two of its words. It has a rising, open sound — three syllables that begin wide and close softly on -wyn. Long known to readers, and only recently handed to actual children.
How old is the name Eowyn?
Eowyn first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Eowyn is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,900 people named Eowyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Eowyn most popular?
Eowyn peaked in 2025, reaching #1467 nationally. Today it ranks #1467, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Eowyn appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From éoh (Old English 'horse') to Eowyn
The story of Eowyn
Éowyn is a literary creation, and an unusually well-documented one. J.R.R. Tolkien, a professor of Anglo-Saxon, built the language and names of Rohan from Old English, and gave this one to the shieldmaiden of that house in The Lord of the Rings in the mid-1950s. For decades it stayed a reader's name, spoken aloud in book groups and never written on birth certificates. The films of the early 2000s carried it to a far larger audience, and its use as a given name in the United States has grown steadily since.
Meaning
horse-joy, or delight in horses
Tolkien formed it from Old English éoh 'horse' and wynn 'joy' — fitting for the Riders of Rohan, whose whole culture he named in Old English.
How the name formed
- éohOld English 'horse'
- wynnOld English 'joy'
- Éowyn
- Eowyn
Related forms: Éowyn · Éowyn · Эовин · エオウィン
Pronouncing Eowyn
AY-oh-win
Tolkien's Old English gives AY-oh-win, and that is how most readers of the books say it. EE-oh-win is also widely heard, partly from the films' broader audience. Either is defensible; you will want to pick one and repeat it often.
Nicknames for Eowyn
High
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
- 1973
- Most girls named
- 2025146 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1467reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +33.9%146 in 2025, from 109
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.
Eowyn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Éowyn in English (Tolkien's spelling) — spelling variant
- Éowyn in French — same name
- Эовин in Russian — transliteration
- エオウィン in Japanese — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Washington.
Eowyns among us
people named Eowyn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 11,009 born in 2025 was named Eowyn
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 Shameeka test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Eowyn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Shameeka climbed just as high around 1977, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Shameeka's path sketches the road Eowyn is walking now.
Eowyn 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 Eowyn is headed
Eowyn should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Eowyn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Eowyn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A single, documented origin with a known meaning — Old English éoh 'horse' plus wynn 'joy' — which is rarer than it sounds among modern names.
- Recognizable worldwide to anyone who has read Tolkien or seen the films, so it arrives with a reference rather than as a blank.
- The -wyn ending connects it to a familiar family of English names, and supplies ready-made short forms like Wyn and Winnie.
- Distinctive enough that a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate, in any region.
- The association with one fictional character is total. There is no earlier history to dilute it, so the name will be greeted with a smile of recognition — pleasant if you love the source, tiring if you would rather it stood alone.
- Two pronunciations circulate, AY-oh-win and EE-oh-win, and the spelling does not decide between them. Expect to correct people, and to hear the other version from teachers and doctors' offices for years.
- The vowel run E-o-w will be misspelled and mis-typed: Eowin, Aowyn, Eowynn. Tolkien's own accented Éowyn adds a further wrinkle on forms that do not accept it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Eowyn 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 Eowyn? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Eowyn
Feminine · Old English roots · #1467 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Eowyns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Eowyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Eowyn in 2025?
- Eowyn ranks #1467 among US girl names in 2025, with 146 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Eowyn?
- About 1 in every 11,009 US girls born in 2025 was named Eowyn — 146 in all.
- Will my child share the name Eowyn with classmates?
- Eowyn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Eowyn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Louella#1467 · Delani#1467 · Ellowyn#1467 · Zia#1467 · Iqra#1467 · Roselynn#1467 · Joey#1467 · Baila#1467
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Eowyn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Eowyn 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