Erna
Erna was last recorded in 2021, when 6 babies were given it; 9,071 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2021 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,260 Americans named Erna and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (14% of everyone recorded); the median is 75 years old and half are between 62 and 84.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Erna by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Erna mean?
Wiktionary, German section
Erna is “a female given name”
Short form of Ernesta and Ernestina, Latinate feminine forms of Ernst.
Meaning: Wiktionary, German section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Erna?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,012, in 2021; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
358 babies in 1916, the peak
Erna peaked in 1916, when 358 girls were given it, #321 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 | #14,012 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 5 | #16,620 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 6 | #14,901 | under 0.01 |
| 2013 | 5 | #17,379 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 8 | #12,582 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 9 | #11,559 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 6 | #15,857 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 8 | #12,969 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 7 | #14,372 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 7 | #14,036 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (120)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 11 | #9,653 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 10 | #10,149 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 11 | #9,243 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 11 | #9,034 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 14 | #7,433 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 10 | #9,378 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 5 | #15,148 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 5 | #14,196 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 5 | #13,958 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 7 | #8,301 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 7 | #8,383 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 5 | #10,858 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 6 | #8,768 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 9 | #6,196 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,298 | under 0.01 |
| 1974 | 7 | #7,117 | under 0.01 |
| 1973 | 6 | #7,707 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 14 | #4,150 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 12 | #4,625 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 10 | #5,157 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 20 | #3,042 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 17 | #3,212 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 18 | #2,994 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 10 | #4,280 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 13 | #3,604 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 19 | #2,938 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 17 | #3,105 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 14 | #3,474 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 27 | #2,311 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 26 | #2,326 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 20 | #2,618 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 31 | #1,995 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 33 | #1,907 | 0.02 |
| 1956 | 36 | #1,765 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 44 | #1,544 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 39 | #1,626 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 39 | #1,568 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 54 | #1,302 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 42 | #1,453 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 41 | #1,435 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 65 | #1,123 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 54 | #1,241 | 0.03 |
| 1947 | 48 | #1,320 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 56 | #1,135 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 56 | #1,037 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 48 | #1,131 | 0.04 |
| 1943 | 48 | #1,171 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 79 | #864 | 0.06 |
| 1941 | 54 | #995 | 0.04 |
| 1940 | 82 | #781 | 0.07 |
| 1939 | 86 | #735 | 0.08 |
| 1938 | 68 | #858 | 0.06 |
| 1937 | 102 | #674 | 0.10 |
| 1936 | 97 | #673 | 0.09 |
| 1935 | 96 | #681 | 0.09 |
| 1934 | 114 | #622 | 0.11 |
| 1933 | 101 | #655 | 0.10 |
| 1932 | 123 | #596 | 0.12 |
| 1931 | 127 | #587 | 0.12 |
| 1930 | 133 | #597 | 0.12 |
| 1929 | 164 | #530 | 0.15 |
| 1928 | 160 | #552 | 0.14 |
| 1927 | 194 | #503 | 0.16 |
| 1926 | 182 | #519 | 0.15 |
| 1925 | 191 | #508 | 0.16 |
| 1924 | 202 | #489 | 0.16 |
| 1923 | 216 | #469 | 0.18 |
| 1922 | 210 | #474 | 0.17 |
| 1921 | 258 | #419 | 0.21 |
| 1920 | 258 | #414 | 0.22 |
| 1919 | 270 | #394 | 0.24 |
| 1918 | 321 | #360 | 0.28 |
| 1917 | 331 | #345 | 0.31 |
| 1916 | 358 | #321 | 0.34 |
| 1915 | 310 | #339 | 0.32 |
| 1914 | 233 | #345 | 0.31 |
| 1913 | 220 | #322 | 0.35 |
| 1912 | 172 | #348 | 0.31 |
| 1911 | 130 | #350 | 0.31 |
| 1910 | 120 | #362 | 0.30 |
| 1909 | 111 | #342 | 0.32 |
| 1908 | 107 | #342 | 0.32 |
| 1907 | 94 | #364 | 0.30 |
| 1906 | 119 | #308 | 0.40 |
| 1905 | 117 | #311 | 0.40 |
| 1904 | 102 | #322 | 0.37 |
| 1903 | 99 | #313 | 0.38 |
| 1902 | 94 | #321 | 0.36 |
| 1901 | 87 | #323 | 0.36 |
| 1900 | 115 | #308 | 0.38 |
| 1899 | 106 | #282 | 0.45 |
| 1898 | 135 | #256 | 0.52 |
| 1897 | 97 | #292 | 0.41 |
| 1896 | 85 | #315 | 0.36 |
| 1895 | 103 | #276 | 0.44 |
| 1894 | 83 | #303 | 0.37 |
| 1893 | 78 | #310 | 0.37 |
| 1892 | 64 | #333 | 0.30 |
| 1891 | 57 | #336 | 0.31 |
| 1890 | 71 | #295 | 0.37 |
| 1889 | 42 | #373 | 0.24 |
| 1888 | 34 | #427 | 0.19 |
| 1887 | 28 | #412 | 0.19 |
| 1886 | 18 | #531 | 0.12 |
| 1885 | 15 | #561 | 0.11 |
| 1884 | 23 | #417 | 0.18 |
| 1883 | 14 | #528 | 0.12 |
| 1882 | 12 | #539 | 0.11 |
| 1881 | 5 | #863 | 0.05 |
| 1880 | 10 | #557 | 0.11 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Erna a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Erna has been given almost only to girls: 11 boys in 120 years of records.
Girls and boys named Erna: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Erna, and how old are they?
1,260 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 14% of the 9,071 Americans ever recorded as Erna. The median Erna alive today is 75 years old; half are between 62 and 84.
The 2020 Census counted 3,768 people named Erna (3,733 women and girls, 35 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,755 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.1 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 414 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 528 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 140 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 23 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 116 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 22 |
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 Erna born?
The states with the most babies named Erna are Texas, Wisconsin and Illinois, with 38% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Wisconsin is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 568 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Wisconsin | 567 | not ranked | 3.3× |
| Illinois | 525 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| New York | 489 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Minnesota | 295 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| North Dakota | 264 | not ranked | 5.3× |
| Missouri | 262 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 227 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Michigan | 194 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Nebraska | 139 | not ranked | 1.7× |
Where Erna is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Erna is most over-represented in North Dakota: since 1910 it was given 5.3 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 Erna 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 11,987 babies since 1880, Erna is the most given (76% of them). In 2025 none of their 51 babies recorded by SSA was a Erna (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Erna
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 Erna and names like it
- Compare Erna and ErianaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sErna peaked in 1916.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Erna since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Erna: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Erna.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Erna alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with EMost given first.