Ephraim

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Efraim in SE Sweden, GR Greece and Εφραιμ in CY Cyprus.

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 15 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◐

Ephraim is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Swahili given name19K records spelled Ephraim6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, United States

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho, Kinyarwanda

  Also written Ephraïm

• Spanish given name6.8K records spelled Ephraim6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Philippines, United States, Brazil, South Africa

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Ephraïm, Ephraím

• French given name4.7K records spelled Ephraim21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Ephrem, Efraim, Ephraïm, Efraïm, Éphrem

• Hebrew given name1.9K records spelled Ephraim35 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Israel, United States, Türkiye, Romania

  Languages: Hebrew, Turkish, Arabic

  Also written אפרים, Efrayim, Efraim, אפריים, Efrain

• a separate given name1.5K records spelled Ephraim5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, Nigeria, South Africa

  Also written Ephraïm, Ephrai͏̈m, Éphraïm, Ephraím

• Arabic given name920 records spelled Ephraim3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa

  Also written Ephraïm

• Polish given name471 records spelled Ephraim21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Bulgaria, United States, Türkiye

  Languages: Polish, Bulgarian, Croatian

  Also written Efraim, Ефраим, Efraïm, Ephraïm, Èfraim

• French (Côte d’Ivoire) given name342 records spelled Ephraim3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Côte d’Ivoire

  Also written Ephraïm, Éphraïm

53 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●

Ephraim 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.

• Double fruitfulness or 'I shall be fruitful' (derived from the Hebrew root 'pārā').

  as a name·Biblical Names Compiled Database

• He represents the concept of divine election over primogeniture and the fruitfulness of God's blessing in the land of affliction.

  as a name·Biblical Names Compiled Database

• In German, Hebrew Ḥanokh ‘the fruitful one’; also Jewish surname forms

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In English, Fruitful one; one of Joseph's sons in the Bible

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In English, The younger son of Joseph in the Bible, eponymous ancestor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

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

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) — 142 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●

• Ephraim of Antiochb. 401TRGreek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch
• Ephraim Chambersb. 1680GBEnglish writer and encyclopaedist
• Gotthold Ephraim Lessingb. 1729DEGerman writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic (1729-1781)
• Ephraim George Squierb. 1821USAmerican archaeologist and newspaper editor (1821–1888)
• Ephraim Moses Lilienb. 1874PLPolish illustration artist and painter (1874-1925)
• Ephraim Katzirb. 1916ILIsraeli scientist, 4th President of Israel (1973–1978) - (born 1916-2009)
• Red Rochab. 1923USnot in their usual nameAmerican basketball player and coach (1923–2010)
• Ephraim Kishonb. 1924ILIsraeli author, dramatist, screenwriter and film director (1924–2005)
• Ephraim Snehb. 1944ILIsraeli politician
• Ephraim Sykesb. 1985USAmerican actor

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 · 341 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ephraim?

We estimate roughly 11 thousand people bear Ephraim (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Ephraim have the most bearers?

Ephraim is most frequently recorded in South Africa, where it is most often spelled ephraim.

How common is Ephraim compared with other names?

In South Africa, Ephraim is the 455th most common given name of 215,346 given names recorded there.

Is Ephraim a male or female name?

Ephraim 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 Ephraim mean?

Recorded meaning: A biblical name meaning 'fruitful', historically enduring in Jewish and Christian communities.