Ember
Torn between Ember and another name? Compare them side by side →
Meaning
burning coal
The story
Ember is a word name that broke the word-name rules. Most vocabulary names spike the decade fashion finds them; Ember instead built slowly for four straight decades, about 290 girls in the 1970s, 460, 630, then 1,600 in the 2000s, before the leap to 8,800 in the 2010s and 11,200 so far this decade, already past the full 2010s. The quiet story is the handoff. Amber, its near-twin, owned an era, more than 154,000 girls in the 1980s alone; this decade the torch has passed, with Embers outnumbering new Ambers roughly 11,200 to 3,400. One vowel swap took a name from mall-era to modern. The word means the coal that keeps burning after the flame, which is about as good a metaphor as the naming dictionary sells. In our records Ember goes mostly to girls, about 22,600 to 430.
How popular is Ember around the world?
In the United States, 11,235 babies were named Ember between 2020 and 2025.
Ember is on the official records of the United States, Scotland, Canada, England and Wales, New Zealand, South Australia, Ireland and Argentina.
United States
1 in 1,900
In the United States, 11,235 babies were named Ember between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Ember peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Scotland
1 in 2,700
In Scotland, 17 girls named Ember were registered in 2024, the 215th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Canada
1 in 2,900
In Canada, 122 girls named Ember were born in 2024, the 231st most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
1 in 3,000
In England and Wales, 192 girls named Ember were born in 2025, the 242nd most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
New Zealand
1 in 5,200
In New Zealand, 11 girls named Ember were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
South Australia
1 in 9,2002017
In South Australia, 2 girls were registered as Ember in 2017.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Ireland
1 in 18,000
In Ireland, 3 girls named Ember were born in 2025, the 885th most common name among girls that year.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Argentina
1 in 32,000
In Argentina, 21 newborns were given the name Ember in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Montevideo City
last on record 1971
Ember is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Ember
Most people given the name Ember in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Ember deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Ember truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Ember fits with your family’s names and surname.
Does Ember fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Ember to your family’s tree →