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NameAlmanac

Eric

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Eric was given to 1,256 boys in 2025, #273 among boys’ names; 893,184 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 793,000 Americans named Eric and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (89% of everyone recorded); the median is 45 years old and half are between 34 and 55.

Eric is the #29 most common first name among living American men and boys, by this estimate.

Babies named Eric each year, first recorded in 1880
Eric, 1880-2025; highest in 1970.5k10k15k20k25k188019001920194019601980200020251970 peak: 23,719
Eric, 1880-2025; highest in 1970.5k10k15k20k25k188019001920194019601980200020251970 peak: 23,719
Eric, 1880-2025; highest in 1970.5k10k15k20k25k18801905193019551980200520251970 peak: 23,719
Eric, 1880-2025; highest in 1970.5k10k15k20k25k18801930198020251970 peak: 23,719

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Eric or ErikNames of the 1970sNames in California

Births of Eric by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Eric mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Eric is “a male given name from the Germanic languages.” Its etymology gives the senses “ruler” (ríkr) and “honor” (*aizō) and “ruler” (*rīkijaz).

From Middle English Eric, from Old English Eoric, from Old Norse Eirríkr, Eiríkr (from ei (“always, eternal”, see aye) + ríkr (“ruler”)), or from Proto-Germanic *Aizarīkijaz (from *aizō (“honor”) + *rīkijaz (“ruler”)). Less likely from einn (“sole, alone”) + ríkr (“ruler”), from Proto-Germanic *rīks (“king”, cognate to Latin rēx and Gaulish *rīx). The name was in use in Anglo-Saxon Britain, reinforced by Scandinavian settlers before the Norman Conquest. Compare Danish Erik, German Erich. Possible doublet of Euric.

/ˈɛɹɪk/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Eric (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Eric?

#273 among boys’ names, 2025

Eric fell from #138 in 2015 to #273 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 1.6 to 0.74 per 1,000.

23,719 babies in 1970, the peak

Eric peaked in 1970, when 23,719 babies were given it (23,571 boys, #18 among boys’ names). The 1,256 births of 2025 are 5% of that peak.

Eric by year
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20251,256#2730.74
20241,406#2520.82
20231,547#2270.90
20221,561#2290.89
20211,790#2131.0
20201,917#1981.1
20192,205#1761.2
20182,410#1601.3
20172,782#1431.5
20162,930#1421.5
Every recorded year (146)
YearBirthsRankPer 1,000 boys
20153,046#1381.6
20143,323#1221.7
20133,265#1181.7
20123,637#1071.9
20113,751#1042.0
20104,201#952.2
20094,646#952.3
20085,377#862.6
20075,959#832.9
20066,232#773.0
20056,697#663.4
20047,133#613.6
20037,787#563.9
20027,928#524.1
20018,559#444.4
20009,162#424.7
19999,382#394.9
19989,964#395.2
199710,317#355.5
199611,611#356.1
199512,485#326.6
199413,311#306.9
199314,548#297.4
199216,145#268.1
199118,051#258.9
199019,430#249.5
198918,977#219.5
198820,175#1910.5
198720,203#2110.8
198619,528#2210.6
198520,844#2111.3
198420,955#2211.6
198320,347#2011.4
198219,878#2011.0
198120,712#1711.6
198022,611#1612.7
197920,268#1711.8
197819,761#1612.0
197720,745#1712.6
197621,359#1313.6
197519,793#1312.7
197420,193#1312.8
197320,802#1313.3
197222,027#1613.6
197122,962#1813.0
197023,571#1812.7
196920,747#2111.6
196818,501#2210.6
196717,830#2310.2
196616,475#259.2
196516,826#259.0
196414,567#327.3
196313,278#316.5
196212,348#336.0
196111,111#385.2
196010,539#444.9
19599,726#464.6
19588,190#503.9
19576,621#603.1
19565,252#792.5
19554,660#852.3
19544,169#892.0
19533,929#892.0
19523,989#882.1
19513,664#931.9
19503,095#981.7
19492,768#1051.6
19482,491#1141.4
19472,344#1221.3
19461,820#1341.1
19451,351#1531.0
19441,195#1580.88
19431,170#1610.82
1942866#1820.63
1941703#1990.57
1940482#2490.42
1939432#2580.39
1938370#2860.33
1937299#3100.28
1936296#3100.29
1935288#3210.28
1934259#3400.25
1933234#3520.24
1932199#4010.19
1931213#3860.20
1930206#4080.19
1929205#4080.19
1928221#4030.20
1927208#4190.18
1926214#4100.19
1925211#4110.19
1924228#4060.20
1923175#4630.16
1922200#4240.18
1921179#4590.16
1920186#4450.17
1919190#4260.19
1918202#4120.20
1917186#4130.20
1916155#4480.17
1915155#4370.18
1914145#3940.22
1913109#4130.21
191293#3990.22
191135#4990.15
191041#4240.21
190933#4390.20
190830#4400.19
190722#4980.15
190633#3690.25
190523#4670.17
190415#5920.12
190334#3230.29
190226#3940.21
190125#3750.23
190021#5200.14
189917#4610.16
189830#3550.24
189730#3410.27
189625#3900.21
189520#4420.17
189420#4250.17
189313#5500.12
189218#4660.15
189118#4180.18
189013#5450.12
188921#3920.19
188813#5620.11
188711#5590.11
188610#6170.09
188516#4670.15
188412#5550.10
188311#5690.11
18829#6680.08
18819#6190.09
188010#6140.09

Download Eric’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Eric a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Eric has been given almost only to boys: 4,293 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Eric: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Eric, and how old are they?

793,000 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 89% of the 893,184 Americans ever recorded as Eric. The median Eric alive today is 45 years old; half are between 34 and 55.

The 2020 Census counted 767,096 people named Eric (1,167 women and girls, 765,929 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 810,101 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.

Alive today, by age

100-1094
90-99174
80-893,280
70-7922,400
60-6993,300
50-59183,000
40-49 (median)191,000
30-39158,000
20-2981,400
10-1939,700
0-916,800

Alive today, by generation

By generation
GenerationBornAlive
Silent Generation1928-19452,600
Baby Boomers1946-196489,500
Generation X1965-1980289,000
Millennials1981-1996274,000
Generation Z1997-2012109,000
Generation Alpha2013-202529,200

An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.

Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).

Where are babies named Eric born?

The states with the most babies named Eric are California, New York and Texas, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
StateSince 1910Rank, boysvs. national
California115,341#2121.1×
New York74,034#2561.1×
Texas56,688#2450.8×
Illinois48,974#2981.1×
Pennsylvania48,239#2731.1×
Ohio45,715#2911.1×
Michigan40,957#3151.1×
Florida30,702#2860.9×
New Jersey27,512#3161.0×
Massachusetts23,922#2491.1×

Where Eric is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Eric is most over-represented in District of Columbia: since 1910 it was given 1.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

District of Columbia1.22×
California1.13×
Michigan1.13×
Pennsylvania1.11×
New York1.10×
Illinois1.09×
Wisconsin1.08×
Ohio1.06×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Eric with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.

Names spelled alike

Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 1,135,344 babies since 1880, Eric is the most given (79% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,256 of their 2,699 babies (47%), again the most given.

Eric and the names spelled alike
NameSince 1880Births 2025Peak year
Eric893,1841,2561970
Erik158,1265491980
Erick79,8808792007
Errick1,326under 51972
Eryk1,05362001
Eriq742under 51995
Erek671under 51990
Eirik36292017

Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.

Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Eric

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

NameRecorded1880-2025
Derrick146,344
Brent140,366
Cedric42,382
Bradley314,957
Christopher2,079,103
Lance106,184

Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

More about Eric and names like it

  1. Compare Eric and ErikBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
  2. The most given names of the 1970sEric peaked in 1970.
  3. California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Eric since 1910.
  4. Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Eric: every such name, by how often it is given.
  5. The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Eric.
  6. The names of Generation XMost people named Eric alive today were born 1965-1980.
  7. Names starting with EMost given first.

Compare Eric with another name