Erhard
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "strong as a bear".
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Erhard. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Erhard today is around 95 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Erhard births was 1917 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Erhard. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Erhard is about 95 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Erhards were born before 1941.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Erhard. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
1917
15 babies that year
Average age
95
years old
1935 SSA rank
#3,379
Tracked since 1914
Census
Erhard in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 225 people with the first name Erhard, which placed it at #35,641 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#35,641
National first-name rank
People counted
225
225 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
95.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Erhard
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erhard is White at 95.1%. The next largest groups are Black (3.1%) and Hispanic (1.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Erhard described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Erhard at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White95.1% · 214
- Black or African American3.1% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 3
- Two or more races0.4% · 1
Popularity
Erhard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Erhard from the 1910s through to the 1930s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 57 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Erhard remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Erhard by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Erhard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Erhard
The name Erhard originates from the Germanic languages and is a compound of the words "er" meaning honor and "hart" meaning hardy or brave. It first appeared during the Middle Ages in regions where Germanic languages were spoken, such as parts of modern-day Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Erhard can be found in the Latin text "Vita Sancti Erhardi" or "Life of Saint Erhard" written in the 7th century AD. This text chronicles the life of Saint Erhard, a Bavarian nobleman who lived from around 600-700 AD and became the Bishop of Regensburg.
Another notable figure with the name Erhard was Erhard of Regensburg, a Benedictine monk and theologian who lived from around 1030-1105 AD. He wrote several influential works on theology and religious instruction during his lifetime.
In the 13th century, Erhard of Saxony was a German philosopher and logician who made significant contributions to the development of medieval logic and semantic theory. He was born around 1215 and died in 1295.
During the Renaissance period, Erhard Ratdolt was a prominent German printer and type designer active in the late 15th century. He is credited with introducing several innovative typefaces and printing techniques that influenced the development of early printing in Europe.
Another notable figure with the name Erhard was Erhard Weigel, a German mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who lived from 1625-1699. He made important contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy, and his work influenced later thinkers such as Gottfried Leibniz.
These are just a few examples of historical figures who bore the name Erhard, demonstrating its longstanding use and significance within Germanic cultures and intellectual circles throughout the Middle Ages and beyond.
People
Erhard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Erhard as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Erhard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Erhard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Erhard going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Erhard a common name?
We classify Erhard as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 110 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Erhard most popular?
The single biggest year for Erhard was 1917, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Erhard is about 95 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Erhard in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 225 people with the name Erhard, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,641 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Erhard in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Erhard?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Erhard leans strongly male. 232 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Erhard?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erhard is White at 95.1%. The next largest groups are Black (3.1%) and Hispanic (1.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Erhard most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Erhard in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.1% (214 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Erhard in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Erhard a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Erhard in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Erhard still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Erhard in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Erhard can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Erhard as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.