Ed Gein's Real Name: Edward Theodore Gein

Quick answer: Ed Gein's full name is Edward Theodore Gein. He was born on August 27, 1906, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and died on July 26, 1984, in Madison, Wisconsin. He is known in press as Ed Gein—the short form of Edward.

Real name and early life

Biography.com and Britannica identify Edward Theodore Gein, born August 27, 1906, in La Crosse County, Wisconsin (Biography.com; Britannica). Gein is the family surname; Theodore is the middle name. He was the younger son of George Gein and Augusta Gein. Around 1915 the family moved to a farm near Plainfield, Wisconsin, where Augusta’s severe religious rule shaped the household. George died in 1940; older brother Henry died after a brush fire in 1944 under circumstances that later drew speculation; Augusta died in 1945. Gein remained on the isolated farm, working as a handyman while the house deteriorated except for his mother’s preserved room.

Career highlights

In November 1957, after hardware-store owner Bernice Worden disappeared from Plainfield, police found her mutilated body at Gein’s farm and evidence of grave robbery and human remains fashioned into household objects. Gein confessed to killing Worden and earlier tavern owner Mary Hogan (1954), and to removing corpses from local cemeteries. Found unfit for trial in 1958 and diagnosed with schizophrenia, he was committed to Central State Hospital. In 1968 he was convicted of Worden’s first-degree murder but ruled insane at the time and returned to institutional care. In later years he was transferred to Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, where he died on July 26, 1984, of respiratory failure linked to lung cancer (Biography.com; HISTORY). His case influenced Robert Bloch’s Psycho and later horror figures such as Leatherface and Buffalo Bill; Netflix’s Monster anthology dramatized his story in 2025. Across crime reporting, billing stayed Ed Gein; the documented full name is Edward Theodore Gein.

Name notes for searchers

Nicknames in tabloids include Butcher of Plainfield and Plainfield Ghoul; they are press labels, not legal names. Prefer Biography.com, Britannica, and court-era reporting over true-crime entertainment alone.