Erma
Erma was given to 24 girls in 2025, #5,291 among girls’ names; 55,187 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 12,200 Americans named Erma and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (22% of everyone recorded); the median is 76 years old and half are between 66 and 84.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Erma by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Erma mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Erma is “a female given name from the Germanic languages, of rare usage, variant of Irma.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Erma?
#5,291 among girls’ names, 2025
Erma rose from #5,342 in 2015 to #5,291 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 14.0 to 14.9 per million.
1,541 babies in 1920, the peak
Erma peaked in 1920, when 1,541 babies were given it (1,529 girls, #152 among girls’ names). The 24 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 24 | #5,291 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 14 | #7,706 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 22 | #5,605 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 20 | #6,056 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 24 | #5,276 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 20 | #5,928 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 21 | #5,850 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 12 | #8,780 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 21 | #5,900 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 13 | #8,545 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 25 | #5,342 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 21 | #6,055 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 17 | #7,150 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 20 | #6,417 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 13 | #8,783 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 16 | #7,633 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 12 | #9,572 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 26 | #5,479 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 26 | #5,418 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 26 | #5,284 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 20 | #6,080 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 27 | #4,850 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 25 | #4,982 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 24 | #4,952 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 16 | #6,706 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 23 | #5,038 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 15 | #6,602 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 19 | #5,433 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 22 | #4,707 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 22 | #4,640 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 19 | #5,076 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 24 | #4,276 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 33 | #3,360 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 24 | #4,276 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 30 | #3,556 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 27 | #3,825 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 30 | #3,420 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 30 | #3,242 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 38 | #2,621 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 40 | #2,480 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 37 | #2,610 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 35 | #2,636 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 37 | #2,486 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 42 | #2,337 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 43 | #2,314 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 53 | #1,986 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 44 | #2,223 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 48 | #1,996 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 49 | #1,978 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 56 | #1,720 | 0.04 |
| 1975 | 69 | #1,488 | 0.05 |
| 1974 | 59 | #1,602 | 0.04 |
| 1973 | 66 | #1,455 | 0.05 |
| 1972 | 86 | #1,227 | 0.06 |
| 1971 | 79 | #1,353 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 83 | #1,296 | 0.05 |
| 1969 | 107 | #1,060 | 0.06 |
| 1968 | 116 | #958 | 0.07 |
| 1967 | 94 | #1,076 | 0.06 |
| 1966 | 146 | #823 | 0.09 |
| 1965 | 151 | #807 | 0.09 |
| 1964 | 220 | #695 | 0.12 |
| 1963 | 184 | #758 | 0.10 |
| 1962 | 216 | #702 | 0.11 |
| 1961 | 244 | #657 | 0.12 |
| 1960 | 241 | #654 | 0.12 |
| 1959 | 269 | #607 | 0.13 |
| 1958 | 303 | #562 | 0.15 |
| 1957 | 358 | #502 | 0.18 |
| 1956 | 308 | #527 | 0.15 |
| 1955 | 356 | #480 | 0.18 |
| 1954 | 412 | #429 | 0.21 |
| 1953 | 419 | #423 | 0.22 |
| 1952 | 457 | #384 | 0.25 |
| 1951 | 490 | #363 | 0.27 |
| 1950 | 544 | #331 | 0.32 |
| 1949 | 546 | #333 | 0.32 |
| 1948 | 616 | #309 | 0.36 |
| 1947 | 608 | #313 | 0.34 |
| 1946 | 603 | #297 | 0.38 |
| 1945 | 601 | #283 | 0.46 |
| 1944 | 640 | #273 | 0.48 |
| 1943 | 719 | #258 | 0.52 |
| 1942 | 754 | #249 | 0.56 |
| 1941 | 727 | #237 | 0.60 |
| 1940 | 741 | #228 | 0.65 |
| 1939 | 792 | #212 | 0.72 |
| 1938 | 786 | #217 | 0.71 |
| 1937 | 833 | #203 | 0.78 |
| 1936 | 842 | #201 | 0.81 |
| 1935 | 930 | #189 | 0.89 |
| 1934 | 1,008 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 1933 | 985 | #176 | 1.0 |
| 1932 | 1,167 | #166 | 1.1 |
| 1931 | 1,151 | #163 | 1.1 |
| 1930 | 1,207 | #169 | 1.1 |
| 1929 | 1,246 | #166 | 1.1 |
| 1928 | 1,382 | #157 | 1.2 |
| 1927 | 1,379 | #161 | 1.2 |
| 1926 | 1,485 | #157 | 1.3 |
| 1925 | 1,490 | #162 | 1.2 |
| 1924 | 1,424 | #168 | 1.1 |
| 1923 | 1,389 | #168 | 1.2 |
| 1922 | 1,411 | #164 | 1.2 |
| 1921 | 1,525 | #158 | 1.2 |
| 1920 | 1,529 | #152 | 1.3 |
| 1919 | 1,497 | #147 | 1.3 |
| 1918 | 1,463 | #153 | 1.3 |
| 1917 | 1,436 | #148 | 1.3 |
| 1916 | 1,378 | #145 | 1.3 |
| 1915 | 1,375 | #139 | 1.4 |
| 1914 | 993 | #147 | 1.3 |
| 1913 | 865 | #140 | 1.4 |
| 1912 | 774 | #141 | 1.4 |
| 1911 | 595 | #138 | 1.4 |
| 1910 | 577 | #140 | 1.5 |
| 1909 | 487 | #145 | 1.4 |
| 1908 | 477 | #144 | 1.4 |
| 1907 | 439 | #150 | 1.4 |
| 1906 | 444 | #139 | 1.5 |
| 1905 | 330 | #164 | 1.1 |
| 1904 | 345 | #157 | 1.3 |
| 1903 | 302 | #165 | 1.2 |
| 1902 | 288 | #166 | 1.1 |
| 1901 | 236 | #183 | 1.0 |
| 1900 | 275 | #188 | 0.92 |
| 1899 | 247 | #173 | 1.1 |
| 1898 | 240 | #188 | 0.93 |
| 1897 | 213 | #185 | 0.91 |
| 1896 | 192 | #199 | 0.81 |
| 1895 | 203 | #191 | 0.87 |
| 1894 | 211 | #185 | 0.95 |
| 1893 | 155 | #203 | 0.73 |
| 1892 | 160 | #198 | 0.75 |
| 1891 | 139 | #192 | 0.75 |
| 1890 | 135 | #205 | 0.71 |
| 1889 | 96 | #237 | 0.54 |
| 1888 | 83 | #253 | 0.46 |
| 1887 | 62 | #269 | 0.42 |
| 1886 | 64 | #261 | 0.44 |
| 1885 | 55 | #267 | 0.41 |
| 1884 | 53 | #270 | 0.41 |
| 1883 | 38 | #288 | 0.34 |
| 1882 | 31 | #321 | 0.29 |
| 1881 | 28 | #298 | 0.30 |
| 1880 | 30 | #284 | 0.33 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Erma a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Erma has been given almost only to girls: 238 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Erma: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Erma, and how old are they?
12,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 22% of the 55,187 Americans ever recorded as Erma. The median Erma alive today is 76 years old; half are between 66 and 84.
The 2020 Census counted 15,161 people named Erma (15,108 women and girls, 53 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 16,553 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 4,240 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 5,530 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,200 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 496 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 326 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 252 |
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 Erma born?
The states with the most babies named Erma are Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio, with 23% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 3,978 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 3,827 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 2,791 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Arkansas | 2,697 | not ranked | 3.0× |
| Missouri | 2,208 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 2,009 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Oklahoma | 1,857 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Mississippi | 1,855 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Michigan | 1,500 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 1,428 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Erma is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Erma is most over-represented in Arkansas: since 1910 it was given 3.0 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 Erma 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 55,929 babies since 1880, Erma is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 24 of their 24 babies (100%), again the most given.
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 Erma
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 Erma and names like it
- Compare Erma and EarmaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sErma peaked in 1920.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Erma since 1910.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Erma.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Erma alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with EMost given first.