Erroll
Masculine
Erroll began as a village in eastern Scotland, on the flat, rich ground where the Tay widens toward the sea. From there it climbed to an earldom, spread as a surname, and crossed the Atlantic as a first name. In the last century it belonged to one of the finest pianists in jazz, a man who could not read a note of music and worked out everything he played by ear.
How old is the name Erroll?
Erroll first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Erroll alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 600 people named Erroll are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Erroll most popular?
Erroll peaked in 1959, reaching #1387 nationally. See the whole 1959 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Errol to Erroll
The story of Erroll
Errol sits on the Carse of Gowrie, the belt of low farmland between Perth and Dundee where the Tay spreads out. A family took the place as its title, the title became one of Scotland's older earldoms, and the surname traveled with the people who left. In America it turned into a first name, the way Scottish territorial names often did. This is also the spelling carried by Erroll Garner, the pianist who never learned to read music and built every arrangement in his head, which gave the name a second home a long way from Perthshire.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The place name Errol is older than any record that would explain it, and Scottish place-name scholars have not settled what it meant. Readings have been proposed and none has carried the field. So the name means the village, and the village keeps its own counsel.
How the name formed
- Errol
- Erroll
Pronouncing Erroll
AIR-ul
Two syllables with the stress up front. The second syllable is light enough that the doubled letter makes no audible difference at all.
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 196131 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1387reached in 1959
- Change vs 2003
- −28.6%5 in 2005, from 7
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.
Errolls among us
people named Erroll are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Erroll sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- A real place stands behind it, a parish on the Carse of Gowrie east of Perth, which gives the name a location rather than a theory.
- It belongs to the Scottish tradition of place names used as first names, beside Douglas, Murray and Ross, so it is familiar in kind even where it is unfamiliar in itself.
- Two easy syllables, stressed the same way on either side of the Atlantic.
- The one-l spelling is far better known, and this one will be quietly corrected to it on forms, in email addresses and by well-meaning colleagues.
- In American ears it sits with older generations, which is either the appeal or the obstacle depending on what you want from a name.
- There is no established short form, so a child who wants one will have to invent it.
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Erroll
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Errolls are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Erroll are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Erroll in 2025?
- Erroll is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Erroll with classmates?
- Erroll will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More E names
The most-given names starting with E, all years combined.
Edward#224 · Eric#273 · Ethan#24 · Eugene#943 · Elijah#7 · Ernest#1038 · Earl#2230 · Evan#153
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Erroll? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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