Erland
Erland was last recorded in 1982, when 7 babies were given it; 478 Americans have been recorded with it between 1901 and 1982 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Erland by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Erland mean?
Wiktionary, Danish section
Erland is “a male given name” Its etymology gives the senses “foreigner” (erlendr) and “eagle's land” (or).
Old Norse Erlendr, erlendr “foreigner” or “eagle’s land”; cognate to Norwegian Erlend.
/ˈɛər.lənd/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Danish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Erland?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #5,198, in 1982; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
24 babies in 1917, the peak
Erland peaked in 1917, when 24 boys were given it, #1,454 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 7 | #5,198 | 3.9 |
| 1959 | 7 | #3,376 | 3.3 |
| 1956 | 6 | #3,653 | 2.8 |
| 1954 | 9 | #2,804 | 4.4 |
| 1953 | 5 | #3,976 | 2.5 |
| 1951 | 6 | #3,464 | 3.2 |
| 1949 | 6 | #3,438 | 3.4 |
| 1948 | 8 | #2,851 | 4.6 |
| 1947 | 10 | #2,544 | 5.5 |
| 1946 | 8 | #2,766 | 4.9 |
Every recorded year (45)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | 8 | #2,623 | 5.9 |
| 1944 | 11 | #2,232 | 8.1 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,041 | 4.9 |
| 1942 | 15 | #1,892 | 10.9 |
| 1941 | 12 | #2,118 | 9.8 |
| 1940 | 10 | #2,375 | 8.6 |
| 1939 | 7 | #2,924 | 6.3 |
| 1938 | 7 | #2,957 | 6.3 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,549 | 8.4 |
| 1936 | 8 | #2,704 | 7.7 |
| 1935 | 15 | #1,860 | 14.4 |
| 1934 | 16 | #1,802 | 15.5 |
| 1933 | 9 | #2,598 | 9.1 |
| 1932 | 14 | #2,032 | 13.4 |
| 1931 | 12 | #2,238 | 11.5 |
| 1930 | 18 | #1,770 | 16.4 |
| 1929 | 9 | #2,818 | 8.4 |
| 1928 | 15 | #2,081 | 13.5 |
| 1927 | 11 | #2,576 | 9.8 |
| 1926 | 15 | #2,107 | 13.5 |
| 1925 | 17 | #1,953 | 15.2 |
| 1924 | 10 | #2,875 | 8.8 |
| 1923 | 12 | #2,483 | 10.9 |
| 1922 | 16 | #2,074 | 14.7 |
| 1921 | 18 | #1,930 | 16.3 |
| 1920 | 11 | #2,649 | 10.3 |
| 1919 | 5 | #4,365 | 5.1 |
| 1918 | 15 | #2,096 | 14.8 |
| 1917 | 24 | #1,454 | 25.9 |
| 1916 | 15 | #1,981 | 16.9 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,537 | 7.1 |
| 1914 | 13 | #1,809 | 19.9 |
| 1913 | 5 | #2,963 | 9.8 |
| 1912 | 5 | #2,657 | 11.6 |
| 1901 | 6 | #983 | 56.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Erland a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Erland has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 45 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Erland: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Erland, and how old are they?
An estimated 81 Americans named Erland and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026, too few to state an age range. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 278 people named Erland (12 women and girls, 266 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 121 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.3 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 564 babies since 1880, Erland is the most given (85% of them).
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 Erland
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 Erland and names like it
- Compare Erland and EarlandBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sErland peaked in 1917.
- Maine’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Erland since 1910.
- Danish namesWiktionary’s origin for Erland: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1917The year the most babies were named Erland.
- Names starting with EMost given first.