Ed

Where Ed comes from

Ed hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #55 among boys — 310 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1882
    Peak, #54
    337 babies named Ed — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1901
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #102.
  4. 1930
    Ed White born
    American astronaut
  5. 1950
    Ed Harris born
    American actor and director
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Ed Harris · American actor and director, born 1950
  • Ed White · American astronaut, 1930–1967
  • Ed Sullivan · American television host, 1901–1974
  • Ed Gein · American murderer and human trophy collector, 1906–1984
  • Ed Begley · American actor, 1901–1970

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.