Erik
Masculine · “ever-ruler”
Erik is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 157,461 boys against 665 girls since 1880. See Erik as a girl name
Erik with a k is the standard spelling across Scandinavia, and American records treat it and the c-spelling as two different names, which they are not. The Swedish king who carries it was examined in a laboratory in this century and the results matched the legend.
How old is the name Erik?
Erik first appears in US birth records in 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Erik alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 147,000 people named Erik are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Erik most popular?
Erik peaked in 1980, reaching #64 nationally. Today it ranks #545, 481 places below that high. See the whole 1980 chart.
Erik appears on these lists:
- Scandinavian names, cool by design
- Norse mythology names
- Superhero names, secret identities included
- Viking names from the sagas
- Names that belong entirely to the 1980s
- all guides
Works in Scandinavian families too:
Where it comes from
From Eiríkr to Erik
The story of Erik
Erik the Ninth of Sweden was killed in eleven sixty and became the country's patron saint. In twenty fourteen a research team opened the reliquary in Uppsala Cathedral and examined the bones. The results were unusually consistent with the medieval account: a man of about forty, unusually strong in the leg bones, with healed injuries and then a series of unhealed wounds to the shins, ribs, neck and head, in a pattern consistent with being cut down and then decapitated. The legs had been struck from behind, which fits a man being brought down before the killing blow. Isotope analysis showed a freshwater fish diet consistent with a religious fasting regime. Not everything matched — the skull was there, and the legend has complications — but very little of it was contradicted.
Meaning
ever-ruler; sole ruler
An Old Norse compound whose first element is read as ever or alone and whose second means ruler. It was a royal name in Denmark, Norway and Sweden for centuries, and the k spelling is the native one in all three.
How the name formed
- Eiríkr
- Erik
Related forms: Erik · Erik · Eric · Eerik
Pronouncing Erik
EH-rik
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Swedish says it much the same way; the k and the c are identical in sound, which is why the two spellings are one name.
Nicknames for Erik
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
- 1911
- Most boys named
- 19804,918 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #64reached in 1980
- Change vs 2023
- −19.1%549 in 2025, from 679
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.
Erik in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Erik in Swedish — same name
- Erik in Danish — same name
- Eric in English — same name
- Eerik in Finnish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Eriks among us
people named Erik are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,111 born in 2025 was named Erik
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Erik
- #545
- Erik on the 2025 chart
- #138
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Erik went to 549 boys in 2025, but Eric and Erick 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 — 407 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 3,111 for Erik 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 Phillip test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Erik's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Phillip climbed just as high around 1950, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Phillip's path sketches the road Erik is walking now.
Erik sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Erik is headed
Erik should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Erik beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Erik in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is the native spelling across Scandinavia rather than an approximation.
- The meaning is documented and has not shifted.
- Four letters with no silent ones make it quick to write.
- Eric is commoner in America and will be written for it.
- It has been common for several decades, so a classroom may hold more than one.
- It is recorded for daughters too, though very rarely.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Erik
Masculine · #545 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Eriks are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 147,000 people named Erik are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Erik?
- Erik is one of 3 recorded spellings. Eric is the more common one — 1,256 births in 2025 against 549 for Erik.
- How popular is the name Erik in 2025?
- Erik ranks #545 among US boy names in 2025, with 549 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Erik?
- About 1 in every 3,111 US boys born in 2025 was named Erik — 549 in all.
- Will my child share the name Erik with classmates?
- Erik will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Erik
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Fletcher#545 · Augustine#545 · Eden#544 · Devin#548 · Ozzy#548 · Cal#542 · Akari#542 · Hamza#541
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Erik? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Erik and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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