Edgar

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Édgar in CR Costa Rica and Ედგარ in GE Georgia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 7 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Edgar is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name1.8M records spelled Edgar38 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Guatemala, Venezuela, Germany

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Édgar, 'Edgar, Ëdgär, Ëdgâr, Ëdgar

• Portuguese given name740K records spelled Edgar7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Philippines, Portugal

  Also written Édgar, Ędgâr, Edgär, Ëdgär, Edgár

• a separate given name69K records spelled Edgar7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, Bolivia, United Kingdom

  Also written Édgar, Ėdgar, Ëdgar, Èdgar, Ēdgar

• Russian given name19K records spelled Edgar85 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, United States

  Languages: Russian, Polish, Ukrainian

  Also written Эдгар, Эдгард, Едгар, Эдгарс, Edhar

• Indonesian given name16K records spelled Edgar4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Indonesia, Peru

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Edgar, Édgar

• Catalan given name11K records spelled Edgar2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, Andorra

  Also written Édgar

• Finnish given name8.7K records spelled Edgar4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Estonia, Philippines, United States

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Edgär, Édgar

83 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Edgar is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, from OE Ēadgār ‘prosperity-spear’; first attested Edgar 1066 DB (Hu)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In French, Old English, from ēad ‘wealth, prosperity’ + gār ‘spear’

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In English, A male given name from Old English.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Spanish, Anglosajón Eadgar: ead ‘propiedad, riqueza’ + gar ‘lanza’; ‘lanza protectora de la propiedad’.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

• In Swedish, Edgar är ett engelskt namn, sammansatt av fornengelskans ēad ’rikedom; egendom’ och gār (→ Ger-, -ger). En känd namnbärare var den amerikanske författaren Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49). I den rikssvenska almanackan 31 oktober och i den finlandssvenska 29 november.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Edgarb. 943GBKing of the English (r. 959–975)
• Edgar Allan Poeb. 1809USAmerican writer and literary critic (1809–1849)
• Edgar Degasb. 1834FRFrench Impressionist artist (1834–1917)
• Edgar Rice Burroughsb. 1875USAmerican writer (1875–1950)
• Edgar Douglas Adrianb. 1889GBEnglish electrophysiologist (1889-1977)
• John Edgar Hooverb. 1895USAmerican law enforcement administrator (1895–1972)
• E. L. Doctorowb. 1931USnot in their usual namenovelist, editor, professor (1931-2015)
• Edgar Lungub. 1956ZMPresident of Zambia from 2015 to 2021 (1956–2025)
• Edgar Davidsb. 1973NLDutch association football player and manager
• Eric Dierb. 1994GBnot in their usual nameEnglish association football player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,321 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Edgar?

We estimate roughly 268 thousand people bear Edgar (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Edgar have the most bearers?

Edgar is most frequently recorded in Mexico, where it is most often spelled edgar.

How common is Edgar compared with other names?

In Mexico, Edgar is the 88th most common given name of 191,605 given names recorded there.

Is Edgar a male or female name?

Edgar is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Edgar mean?

Recorded meaning: From the Old English male personal name Edgar, literally ‘wealth-spear’