Epiphany
Feminine · “a showing forth”
An epiphaneia in Greek was a god showing up. The word means an appearing or a manifestation, and it was used for the moment a deity became visible to people who had only been hoping. The Christian feast on the sixth of January takes its name from that, and the modern sense — a sudden flash of understanding — is a nineteenth-century extension of the same idea.
How old is the name Epiphany?
Epiphany first appears in US birth records in 1987 — 38 years ago. The typical Epiphany alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 800 people named Epiphany are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Epiphany most popular?
Epiphany peaked in 1988, reaching #2093 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 11,115 places below that high. See the whole 1988 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From epiphaneia to Epiphany
The story of Epiphany
English has taken feast days as names for a long time — Epiphany, Noel, Natalie, Pascal and Theophany all name a day rather than a quality. The word acquired its second life in the twentieth century when writers borrowed it for the moment a character suddenly understands something, and that literary sense is now the commoner one in English. As a name it appears in American records from the 1980s, in small but consistent numbers, and it belongs to the same movement that gave Trinity, Serenity and Destiny their moment.
Meaning
a showing forth; a manifestation
From the Greek epiphaneia, an appearing, built on a verb meaning to show or shine forth. The feast of Epiphany commemorates the visit of the magi in the Western church and the baptism of Christ in the Eastern one — both of them moments of something hidden becoming visible.
How the name formed
- epiphaneia
- Epiphania
- Epiphany
Related forms: Epifanía · Epifania · Epiphaneia · Épiphanie
Pronouncing Epiphany
ih-PIF-uh-nee
Four syllables, stress on the second. Spanish and Italian move the weight to the fourth and add a syllable, giving eh-pee-fah-NEE-ah. In American English the shorter version is universal.
Nicknames for Epiphany
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
- 1987
- Most girls named
- 198855 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2093reached in 1988
- Change vs 2024
- −25.0%6 in 2025, from 8
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.
Epiphany in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Epifanía in Spanish — same name
- Epifania in Italian — same name
- Epiphaneia in Greek — transliteration
- Épiphanie in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Epiphanys among us
people named Epiphany are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Epiphany
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 Hinda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Epiphany's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Hinda climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Hinda's path sketches the road Epiphany is walking now.
Epiphany 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
Epiphany beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Epiphany in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The word is known to every English speaker, so nothing has to be spelled out or explained.
- Three quite different short forms are available, all of them standing names.
- It names a real feast day with a documented fifteen-hundred-year history.
- It is genuinely uncommon, so a child will rarely meet another.
- Four syllables and eight letters is a great deal of name for a small person.
- The word is used constantly in ordinary English, so the name will be heard as a common noun first.
- It carries a specifically Christian association, which is a fact to weigh rather than a fault.
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What they receive
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Epiphany
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Epiphanys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Epiphany are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Epiphany in 2025?
- Epiphany ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Epiphany?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Epiphany — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Epiphany with classmates?
- Epiphany will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Epiphany
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sarra#13208 · Arrianna#13208 · Marry#13208 · Briyanna#13208 · Alexsandra#13208 · Fionna#13208 · Nadiah#13208 · Daniele#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Epiphany? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Epiphany and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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