Names/E

Early

boys’ nameFadedCompare

Early is absent from the 2024 data, which means fewer than five births. Its best rank was 323rd, in 1897.

Rank in 2024
fewer than 5 births
Births in 2024
0not in the data
Peak year
192788 births
Best rank
#323in 1897
Since 1880
4,352people given the name
Babies named Early, by year of birthboys
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

The story in the numbers

3,979 boys have been named Early in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1927, with 88 births.

The name has all but left use: none recorded in 2024, against 88 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1930, and the 1920s alone account for 19%. It has spent 67 of 145 years in the top 1,000.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 373 girls have also been given it, 8.6% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

Higher on the chart = more popularrank (gaps = outside the top 1,000)
#1#250#500#750#100018801900192019401960198020002020

By decade

Decadeboys named Early
1880s147
1890s221
1900s244
1910s587
1920s774
1930s516
1940s518
1950s396
1960s209
1970s147
1980s90
1990s44
2000s45
2010s26
2020s15

In 1927, its biggest year

Early was the 692nd most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1927 were Robert, John, James, William and Charles. See all of 1927.

Names that rose and fell with Early

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.