Edward

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Eduard in ES Spain, FR France, VE Venezuela and 3 more, Edy in BR Brazil, EC Ecuador, PE Peru and 2 more, אדוורד in PL Poland and Edvard in FI Finland.

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 12 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◐

Edward is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Russian given name612K records spelled Edward141 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, United States

  Languages: Russian, Polish, Ukrainian

  Also written Эдуард, Едуард, Eduard, Эдвард, Едвард

• a separate given name386K records spelled Edward4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Edw-Ard, Edwārd, Èdward

• Indonesian given name49K records spelled Edward4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Edward, Ëdward

• Finnish given name27K records spelled Edward4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Hungary, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Ëdwãrd

107 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●

Edward 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 the personal name Edward; earliest cited 1538, Merioneth: Hoell ap Bedward.

  as a name·Welsh Surnames

• In English, from Welsh Iorwerth; earliest cited 1215-1350 (three instances).

  as a name·Welsh Surnames

• In English, Eadward, composed of the elements ead prosperity, for¬ tune + w(e)ard guard. Although apparently of exclusively OE origin, the given name also became popular on the Continent, perhaps as a result of the fame of the two can¬ onized kings of England, Edward the Martyr (962-79) and Edward the Confessor (1004-66). They certainly contrib¬ uted largely to its great popularity in England.

  as a name·The Oxford Names Companion - The definitive guide to Surnames, First Names, and Place Names of the British Isles

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

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

• In Swedish, Edward (m.fl. former) är ett engelskt namn, sammansatt av fornengelskans ēad ’rikedom; egendom’ och weard ’väktare’. I både den rikssvenska och finlandssvenska almanackan 18 mars, efter en engelsk kung, Edvard martyren (död 978), som blev helgonförklarad.

  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●

• Edward IIIb. 1312GBKing of England from 1327 to 1377
• Edward Burnett Tylorb. 1832GBEnglish anthropologist (1832–1917)
• Edward Calvin Kendallb. 1886USAmerican chemist (1886-1972)
• Edward Victor Appletonb. 1892GBEnglish physicist (1892–1965)
• John Bowlbyb. 1907GBnot in their usual nameBritish psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (1907–1990)
• Edward Heathb. 1916GBPrime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 (1916–2005)
• Andrew Mountbatten-Windsorb. 1960GBnot in their usual namethird child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born 1960)
• Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburghb. 1964GBBritish prince (born 1964); youngest child of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
• Edward Nortonb. 1969USAmerican actor
• Edward Snowdenb. 1983USAmerican whistleblower and former NSA contractor (born 1983)

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 · 1,835 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Edward?

We estimate roughly 1.6 million people bear Edward (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Edward have the most bearers?

Edward is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled edward.

How common is Edward compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Edward is the 42nd most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Edward a male or female name?

Edward 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 Edward mean?

Recorded meaning: from OE Ēadweard ‘prosperity-guard’; first attested Eaduuardus, Eduuard(us), Æduuardus 1066 DB