Erle
Erle was last recorded in 1981, when 5 babies were given it; 855 Americans have been recorded with it between 1882 and 1981 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Erle by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Erle mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Erle is “a male given name from English.”
A rare spelling variant of Earl.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Erle?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #6,578, in 1981; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
28 babies in 1917, the peak
Erle peaked in 1917, when 28 boys were given it, #1,304 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 5 | #6,578 | 2.8 |
| 1974 | 5 | #5,455 | 3.2 |
| 1971 | 11 | #3,023 | 6.2 |
| 1970 | 8 | #3,611 | 4.3 |
| 1969 | 11 | #2,746 | 6.2 |
| 1967 | 8 | #3,073 | 4.6 |
| 1966 | 12 | #2,372 | 6.7 |
| 1965 | 6 | #3,654 | 3.2 |
| 1964 | 7 | #3,377 | 3.5 |
| 1963 | 11 | #2,581 | 5.4 |
Every recorded year (67)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | 9 | #2,913 | 4.4 |
| 1961 | 10 | #2,763 | 4.7 |
| 1960 | 7 | #3,442 | 3.3 |
| 1959 | 10 | #2,706 | 4.7 |
| 1958 | 12 | #2,404 | 5.7 |
| 1957 | 8 | #3,091 | 3.7 |
| 1956 | 9 | #2,851 | 4.3 |
| 1955 | 9 | #2,833 | 4.4 |
| 1954 | 10 | #2,637 | 4.9 |
| 1953 | 11 | #2,433 | 5.6 |
| 1952 | 24 | #1,560 | 12.3 |
| 1951 | 13 | #2,165 | 6.9 |
| 1950 | 14 | #2,054 | 7.8 |
| 1949 | 14 | #2,054 | 7.9 |
| 1948 | 15 | #1,967 | 8.5 |
| 1947 | 13 | #2,188 | 7.1 |
| 1946 | 17 | #1,781 | 10.5 |
| 1945 | 8 | #2,624 | 5.9 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,109 | 8.8 |
| 1943 | 12 | #2,211 | 8.4 |
| 1942 | 15 | #1,893 | 10.9 |
| 1941 | 11 | #2,247 | 9.0 |
| 1940 | 6 | #3,232 | 5.2 |
| 1939 | 7 | #2,925 | 6.3 |
| 1938 | 8 | #2,717 | 7.2 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,550 | 8.4 |
| 1936 | 17 | #1,665 | 16.4 |
| 1935 | 15 | #1,861 | 14.4 |
| 1934 | 15 | #1,880 | 14.5 |
| 1933 | 13 | #2,028 | 13.1 |
| 1932 | 18 | #1,740 | 17.2 |
| 1931 | 13 | #2,136 | 12.5 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,214 | 11.8 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,237 | 12.1 |
| 1928 | 18 | #1,853 | 16.3 |
| 1927 | 20 | #1,763 | 17.7 |
| 1926 | 14 | #2,231 | 12.6 |
| 1925 | 24 | #1,547 | 21.5 |
| 1924 | 17 | #1,983 | 15.0 |
| 1923 | 20 | #1,772 | 18.2 |
| 1922 | 24 | #1,556 | 22.1 |
| 1921 | 21 | #1,729 | 19.1 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,163 | 14.1 |
| 1919 | 21 | #1,649 | 21.4 |
| 1918 | 24 | #1,506 | 23.7 |
| 1917 | 28 | #1,304 | 30.3 |
| 1916 | 18 | #1,717 | 20.2 |
| 1915 | 16 | #1,813 | 18.9 |
| 1914 | 18 | #1,457 | 27.5 |
| 1913 | 18 | #1,223 | 35.1 |
| 1912 | 10 | #1,659 | 23.3 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,130 | 47.7 |
| 1894 | 6 | #992 | 51.8 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,091 | 44.5 |
| 1891 | 7 | #794 | 69.2 |
| 1885 | 5 | #982 | 46.4 |
| 1882 | 5 | #984 | 44.0 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Erle a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Erle has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 67 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Erle: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Erle, and how old are they?
An estimated 238 Americans named Erle and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (28% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 62 and 78. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 424 people named Erle (23 women and girls, 401 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 300 born in the U.S. The Census count is 41% above 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 21,180 babies since 1880, Erle is the fourth most given (4.0% 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 Erle
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 Erle and names like it
- Compare Erle and EarleBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sErle peaked in 1917.
- Minnesota’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Erle since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Erle: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1917The year the most babies were named Erle.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Erle alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with EMost given first.