Eric
Masculine · “eternal ruler”
Eric is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 888,891 boys against 4,293 girls since 1880. See Eric as a girl name
Eirikr meant the ever-ruler. It is Old Norse ei, always or eternal, joined to rikr, ruler — a name that claims permanence, given by people whose kings mostly did not get it. Erik the Red was exiled for killing two men, sailed west, and named the ice he found Greenland to attract settlers.
How old is the name Eric?
Eric was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Eric alive today was born around 1981, making them about 44 years old. About 801,000 people named Eric are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Eric most popular?
Eric peaked in 1973, reaching #13 nationally. Today it ranks #273, 260 places below that high. See the whole 1973 chart.
Where it comes from
From Eiríkr to Eric
The story of Eric
The name's modern English use owes a great deal to a Victorian school story: Eric, or Little by Little, published in eighteen fifty-eight, was a moralizing bestseller about a boy's gradual corruption, and it was read by everyone and mocked almost immediately. It made the name familiar in England at a time when Norse revival was already fashionable, and Eric went from a northern rarity to an ordinary choice within a generation. Erik with a k is the Scandinavian spelling and remains standard there.
Meaningscholars disagree
eternal ruler
Old Norse Eirikr joins rikr, ruler or powerful, to a first element read either as ei, ever, or as a prefix meaning one or alone — giving eternal ruler or sole ruler. Both are standard and neither is settled. The rikr half is certain and shares a root with the Latin rex and the German reich. The name arrived in England with Scandinavian settlement and has been continuously present in the north ever since.
How the name formed
- Eiríkr
- Erik
- Eric
Related forms: Erik · Eirik · Erich · Érico · Eerik
Pronouncing Eric
AIR-ik
AIR-ik, two syllables, stress at the front. Some Americans say EH-rik with a flatter first vowel; both are heard and neither is wrong. Swedish and Norwegian say it with a fuller first vowel and a rolled r.
Nicknames for Eric
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 197222,027 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #13reached in 1973
- Change vs 2022
- −19.5%1,256 in 2025, from 1,561
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Eric in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Erik in Swedish — same name
- Eirik in Norwegian — same name
- Erich in German — same name
- Érico in Spanish — same name
- Eerik in Finnish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Erics among us
people named Eric are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,360 born in 2025 was named Eric
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Eric
- #273
- Eric on the 2025 chart
- #138
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Eric went to 1,256 boys in 2025, but Erick and Erik are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 2,690, which makes it the 138th most-given boys’ name of the year — 135 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 635 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,360 for Eric itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kenneth test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Eric's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kenneth climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kenneth's path sketches the road Eric is walking now.
Eric has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Eric is headed
Eric is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Eric beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Eric in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Norse compound is documented and both possible readings are strong ones.
- Rick is available as a complete alternative name inside it.
- It works in every Germanic and Scandinavian language without translation.
- Two syllables, four letters, and never mispronounced in English.
- Erik and Erick are both standard and the spelling is dictated every time.
- A great many people carry it, so an Eric will rarely be the only one in a workplace.
- It is strongly associated with the second half of the last century in America.
- This spelling is recorded for girls too, though so rarely that a girl named Eric will be read as a boy on every form; Erica carries the same root without that.
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What they receive
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Eric
Masculine · #273 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Erics are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 801,000 people named Eric are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Eric?
- Eric is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,256 of the 2,690 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Erick and Erik.
- How popular is the name Eric in 2025?
- Eric ranks #273 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,256 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Eric?
- About 1 in every 1,360 US boys born in 2025 was named Eric — 1,256 in all.
- Will my child share the name Eric with classmates?
- Eric will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Eric
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Malcolm#272 · Javier#274 · Steven#271 · Bodie#275 · Maximus#275 · Karter#270 · Koa#269 · Otto#277
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Eric? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Eric and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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