Erian
A variant spelling of the Scandinavian name Eirik, meaning "ever ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 330 living Americans carry the first name Erian. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 52.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Erian today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Erian births was 2014 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Erian. 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.
People living today
330
~ 1 in 1,038,650 Americans
Peak year
2014
31 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2023 SSA rank
#7,019
Tracked since 1996
Census
Erian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 377 people with the first name Erian, which placed it at #25,213 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
#25,213
National first-name rank
People counted
377
377 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Erian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erian is Black at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.9%) and White (18.6%). 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 Erian 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 Erian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.6% · 168
- Hispanic or Latino27.9% · 105
- White18.6% · 70
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 20
- Two or more races2.9% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Erian
Erian is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 333 total registrations, 174 (52.3%) were male and 159 (47.7%) were female.
Erian as a male name
- Ranked #7,019 in 2023
- 12 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2016 (16 births)
Erian as a female name
- Ranked #12,599 in 2021
- 7 female births in 2021
- Peak: 2014 (17 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Erian on both sides of the split. Of the 381 people counted with this name, 188 were male (49.3%) and 193 were female (50.7%).
Popularity
Erian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Erian from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 188 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Erian 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 Erian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Erians live
Origin
Meaning and history of Erian
The name Erian is believed to have originated from the ancient Celtic culture, dating back to around the 5th century CE. It is derived from the Old Celtic word "eri," which means "west" or "westerly." This suggests that the name may have been given to individuals who lived in or hailed from the western regions of the Celtic territories.
In some ancient Celtic texts, the name Erian is mentioned as a reference to people who lived in the western regions of the British Isles, particularly in what is now known as Wales and Cornwall. However, there is no definitive record of its use in major historical or religious scriptures from that era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Erian can be found in the 6th century CE, when a Welsh prince named Erian ap Dyvnwal was mentioned in the Annales Cambriae, a collection of Welsh annals. This prince was said to have ruled over parts of what is now southwestern Wales.
In the 9th century CE, an Irish monk named Erian of St. Gall gained prominence for his work in preserving and copying ancient manuscripts. He is credited with helping to preserve many important works of literature and philosophy during the Middle Ages.
During the 12th century, a Welsh nobleman named Erian ap Rhys ap Tewdwr was a prominent figure in the conflicts between the Welsh princes and the Norman invaders. He is recorded as having fought bravely against the Norman forces in defense of his homeland.
In the 16th century, an English composer named Erian Munday (c. 1550 - 1594) was renowned for his contributions to sacred music, particularly his compositions for the Anglican Church.
Another notable figure with the name Erian was the 17th-century Welsh poet and writer Erian Prys (c. 1610 - 1670), who was celebrated for his works in the Welsh language and his efforts to preserve Welsh culture and traditions.
These examples demonstrate the long-standing history and cultural significance of the name Erian, primarily within the Celtic and British Isles regions, spanning various eras and fields of endeavor.
People
Erian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Erian 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
Erian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Erian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 330 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Erian 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 1,038,650 US residents.
Is Erian a common name?
We classify Erian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 333 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Erian most popular?
The single biggest year for Erian was 2014, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Erian is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Erian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 377 people with the name Erian, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,213 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 Erian 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 Erian?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Erian on both sides of the split. Of the 381 people counted with this name, 188 were male (49.3%) and 193 were female (50.7%). 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 Erian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erian is Black at 44.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.9%) and White (18.6%). 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 Erian most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Erian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.6% (168 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 Erian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Erian a male name?
Yes, 52.3% of people registered as Erian 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 Erian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Erian 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 Erian 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 Erian as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Erian on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.