Errol
Masculine
Errol is a Scottish village in Perthshire and the earldom that goes with it, and its American peak is 1941 — which is to say it belongs almost entirely to one actor, who was at the height of his fame in exactly that year.
How old is the name Errol?
Errol first appears in US birth records in 1896 — 129 years ago. The typical Errol alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 6,100 people named Errol are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Errol most popular?
Errol peaked in 1941, reaching #354 nationally. Today it ranks #5399, 5,045 places below that high. See the whole 1941 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Erroll to Errol
The story of Errol
Errol is a village on the Carse of Gowrie, and the Hay earls of Erroll have held the office of Lord High Constable of Scotland since 1314. The name was rare until the twentieth century, when the Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn became one of the biggest stars in Hollywood — Captain Blood in 1935, The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938 — and the American birth records follow him precisely, rising through the late 1930s and peaking in 1941. The name has a substantial second life in the Caribbean, where Errol Barrow led Barbados to independence and Errol Brown fronted Hot Chocolate, and it is common in Jamaica and Guyana.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The place name Errol in Perthshire has no settled etymology; derivations from Gaelic elements meaning a height or a bog have both been proposed and neither is established. The surname comes from the place and the given name from the surname. Popular glosses such as wanderer or nobleman are not supported by any source and appear to be inventions of twentieth-century name books.
How the name formed
- Erroll
- Errol
Related forms: Erroll
Pronouncing Errol
AIR-ul
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the second reduced. Some speakers say EH-rol with a fuller second vowel, and Caribbean speakers generally do.
Nicknames for Errol
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
- 1896
- Most boys named
- 1941272 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #354reached in 1941
- Change vs 2023
- +13.3%17 in 2025, from 15
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.
Errol in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Erroll in Scots — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida.
Errols among us
people named Errol are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 100,475 born in 2025 was named Errol
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Helen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Errol's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Helen climbed just as high around 1903, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Helen's path sketches the road Errol is walking now.
Errol 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
Errol beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Errol in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables and five letters keep it compact.
- Everyone can say it after one hearing.
- It has a genuine Scottish place and earldom behind it.
- The meaning is genuinely unknown and the glosses in name books are inventions.
- Errol Flynn is an overwhelming association for anyone over sixty.
- The first syllable is the word err.
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Errol
Masculine · #5399 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Errols are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,100 people named Errol are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Errol in 2025?
- Errol ranks #5399 among US boy names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Errol?
- About 1 in every 100,475 US boys born in 2025 was named Errol — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Errol with classmates?
- Errol will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Errol
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Frazier#5399 · Franz#5399 · Demetrio#5399 · Rolan#5399 · Rayvon#5399 · Riddick#5399 · Laramie#5399 · Soloman#5399
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Errol? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Errol and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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