Means "solid, enduring" in Hebrew. This was the name of a wise man in the Old Testament. After the Protestant Reformation it was occasionally used as a given name in the English-speaking world, and it became somewhat common in America due to the fame of the revolutionary Ethan Allen (1738-1789). It only became popular towards the end of the 20th century. This was the name of the main character in Edith Wharton's novel 'Ethan Frome' (1911).