Erica
Erica was given to 156 girls in 2025, #1,399 among girls’ names; 232,637 Americans have been recorded with it since 1909 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 224,000 Americans named Erica and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 33 and 46.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Erica by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Erica mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Erica is “a female given name from the Germanic languages or Old Norse.”
A feminine form of Eric, ultimately from Old Norse. The name has also been associated with the flower genus.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Erica?
#1,399 among girls’ names, 2025
Erica fell from #686 in 2015 to #1,399 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.23 to 0.10 per 1,000.
10,032 babies in 1986, the peak
Erica peaked in 1986, when 10,032 babies were given it (9,973 girls, #31 among girls’ names). The 156 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 156 | #1,399 | 0.10 |
| 2024 | 146 | #1,494 | 0.09 |
| 2023 | 191 | #1,229 | 0.12 |
| 2022 | 177 | #1,327 | 0.11 |
| 2021 | 201 | #1,199 | 0.12 |
| 2020 | 220 | #1,111 | 0.14 |
| 2019 | 245 | #1,045 | 0.15 |
| 2018 | 298 | #903 | 0.18 |
| 2017 | 326 | #835 | 0.19 |
| 2016 | 355 | #802 | 0.20 |
Every recorded year (105)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 417 | #686 | 0.23 |
| 2014 | 437 | #653 | 0.24 |
| 2013 | 526 | #557 | 0.30 |
| 2012 | 612 | #502 | 0.35 |
| 2011 | 624 | #475 | 0.35 |
| 2010 | 745 | #423 | 0.42 |
| 2009 | 943 | #347 | 0.51 |
| 2008 | 1,133 | #295 | 0.60 |
| 2007 | 1,366 | #256 | 0.71 |
| 2006 | 1,553 | #220 | 0.82 |
| 2005 | 1,717 | #202 | 0.93 |
| 2004 | 1,874 | #183 | 1.0 |
| 2003 | 2,092 | #159 | 1.1 |
| 2002 | 2,305 | #144 | 1.3 |
| 2001 | 2,668 | #129 | 1.5 |
| 2000 | 3,220 | #102 | 1.8 |
| 1999 | 3,161 | #106 | 1.8 |
| 1998 | 3,624 | #92 | 2.1 |
| 1997 | 3,992 | #84 | 2.3 |
| 1996 | 4,460 | #79 | 2.5 |
| 1995 | 4,893 | #69 | 2.8 |
| 1994 | 5,680 | #57 | 3.2 |
| 1993 | 6,411 | #49 | 3.5 |
| 1992 | 7,133 | #44 | 3.9 |
| 1991 | 7,800 | #40 | 4.2 |
| 1990 | 8,608 | #36 | 4.5 |
| 1989 | 9,025 | #34 | 4.9 |
| 1988 | 9,591 | #31 | 5.4 |
| 1987 | 9,328 | #31 | 5.4 |
| 1986 | 9,973 | #31 | 5.8 |
| 1985 | 9,525 | #34 | 5.5 |
| 1984 | 9,278 | #34 | 5.5 |
| 1983 | 9,713 | #33 | 5.8 |
| 1982 | 9,340 | #35 | 5.5 |
| 1981 | 8,626 | #36 | 5.2 |
| 1980 | 8,760 | #34 | 5.3 |
| 1979 | 8,178 | #32 | 5.1 |
| 1978 | 7,340 | #34 | 4.8 |
| 1977 | 6,624 | #38 | 4.3 |
| 1976 | 5,236 | #54 | 3.6 |
| 1975 | 4,581 | #63 | 3.1 |
| 1974 | 4,121 | #74 | 2.8 |
| 1973 | 3,793 | #81 | 2.6 |
| 1972 | 3,443 | #87 | 2.3 |
| 1971 | 3,490 | #108 | 2.1 |
| 1970 | 2,789 | #129 | 1.6 |
| 1969 | 1,505 | #208 | 0.89 |
| 1968 | 956 | #280 | 0.58 |
| 1967 | 681 | #337 | 0.41 |
| 1966 | 575 | #381 | 0.34 |
| 1965 | 566 | #388 | 0.32 |
| 1964 | 541 | #418 | 0.29 |
| 1963 | 576 | #400 | 0.30 |
| 1962 | 448 | #456 | 0.23 |
| 1961 | 243 | #658 | 0.12 |
| 1960 | 234 | #664 | 0.12 |
| 1959 | 233 | #656 | 0.12 |
| 1958 | 206 | #686 | 0.10 |
| 1957 | 211 | #679 | 0.10 |
| 1956 | 182 | #710 | 0.09 |
| 1955 | 146 | #797 | 0.07 |
| 1954 | 142 | #787 | 0.07 |
| 1953 | 113 | #888 | 0.06 |
| 1952 | 94 | #972 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 94 | #956 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 116 | #808 | 0.07 |
| 1949 | 89 | #945 | 0.05 |
| 1948 | 99 | #876 | 0.06 |
| 1947 | 83 | #973 | 0.05 |
| 1946 | 67 | #1,035 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 66 | #944 | 0.05 |
| 1944 | 35 | #1,369 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 20 | #1,963 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 39 | #1,283 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 10 | #2,891 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,337 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 17 | #1,967 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 17 | #1,969 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 7 | #3,553 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 7 | #3,510 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 9 | #2,990 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 8 | #3,198 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 8 | #3,371 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,835 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 11 | #2,789 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 16 | #2,220 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 12 | #2,756 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 8 | #3,673 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,589 | under 0.01 |
| 1924 | 5 | #5,322 | under 0.01 |
| 1919 | 6 | #4,434 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,814 | under 0.01 |
| 1916 | 5 | #4,639 | under 0.01 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,497 | 0.01 |
| 1909 | 5 | #2,317 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Erica a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Erica has been given almost only to girls: 1,024 boys in 105 years of records.
Girls and boys named Erica: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Erica, and how old are they?
224,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 232,637 Americans ever recorded as Erica. The median Erica alive today is 40 years old; half are between 33 and 46.
The 2020 Census counted 215,652 people named Erica (215,144 women and girls, 508 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 225,135 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 120 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 59,300 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 126,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 31,300 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,670 |
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 Erica born?
The states with the most babies named Erica are Texas, California and Florida, with 44% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 17 | #1,424 | 1.1× |
| California | 16 | #1,432 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 14 | #1,074 | 1.0× |
| New York | 10 | #1,351 | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 9 | #956 | 1.0× |
| Virginia | 8 | #875 | 0.9× |
| Washington | 8 | #760 | 0.7× |
| Oregon | 6 | #575 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 5 | #1,533 | 1.0× |
| Georgia | 5 | #1,606 | 1.1× |
Where Erica is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Erica is most over-represented in District of Columbia: since 1910 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ 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 Erica 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 387,050 babies since 1880, Erica is the most given (60% of them). In 2025 it was given to 156 of their 441 babies (35%), the second most given that year.
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 Erica
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
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 Erica and names like it
- Compare Erica and ErikaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sErica peaked in 1986.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Erica since 1910.
- Germanic namesWiktionary’s origin for Erica: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1986The year the most babies were named Erica.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Erica alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with EMost given first.