Erich
Germanic masculine name meaning "ever-ruler, powerful ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 10,052 living Americans carry the first name Erich. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Erich today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Erich births was 1971 (343 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Erich. 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
10K
~ 1 in 34,098 Americans
Peak year
1971
343 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,712
Tracked since 1894
Census
Erich in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,609 people with the first name Erich, which placed it at #2,366 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
#2,366
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
10,609 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Erich
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erich is White at 85.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.9%) and Black (3.0%). 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 Erich 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 Erich at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.4% · 9,062
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 727
- Black or African American3.0% · 313
- Two or more races2.6% · 277
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 199
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 31
Gender
Gender distribution for Erich
Out of the 11,692 babies given the name Erich since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Erich as a male name
- Ranked #5,712 in 2024
- 16 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1971 (343 births)
Erich as a female name
- Ranked #17,615 in 2011
- 5 female births in 2011
- Peak: 1976 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Erich appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,617 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Erich: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Erich from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 2,650 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Erich 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 Erich during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Erichs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Erich, while New Hampshire, Alaska, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 224 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Erich
The name Erich is a Germanic name derived from the Old High German word "ēra," which means honor or respect. It is a variant spelling of the more common name Eric, which has similar origins and meanings.
The first recorded use of the name Erich can be traced back to the Middle Ages in Germanic-speaking regions of Europe. It was particularly popular in areas like Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, where it was often given to boys as a way to instill a sense of honor and dignity.
One of the earliest notable figures to bear the name Erich was Erich the Red, a 10th-century German nobleman and military leader known for his exploits during the reign of Emperor Otto I. Another significant historical figure was Erich of Pomerania, a 15th-century king of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, who played a crucial role in the Kalmar Union.
In the realm of literature, the name Erich is associated with the German author Erich Maria Remarque, best known for his novel "All Quiet on the Western Front," which provided a harrowing account of World War I from a German soldier's perspective. Remarque was born in 1898 and lived until 1970.
The field of science also boasts notable individuals named Erich, such as Erich Kästner, a German writer and satirist born in 1899, and Erich von Drygalski, a German geographer and explorer born in 1865, who led a significant expedition to Antarctica in the early 20th century.
Another prominent figure was Erich Fromm, a renowned German philosopher and psychologist born in 1900, who made significant contributions to the fields of psychoanalysis and humanism. His works, such as "The Art of Loving" and "Escape from Freedom," explored themes of human nature, love, and freedom.
While the name Erich has maintained a presence throughout history, particularly in German-speaking regions, its popularity has ebbed and flowed over time. Nevertheless, its rich heritage and symbolic association with honor and respect have endured, making it a name with a lasting legacy.
People
Erich + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Erich 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
Erich: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Erich?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,052 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Erich 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 34,098 US residents.
Is Erich a common name?
We classify Erich as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,692 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Erich most popular?
The single biggest year for Erich was 1971, when 343 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Erich is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Erich in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,609 people with the name Erich, or 3.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,366 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 Erich 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 Erich?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Erich appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,617 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Erich?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erich is White at 85.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.9%) and Black (3.0%). 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 Erich most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Erich in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.4% (9,062 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 Erich in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Erich a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Erich 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 Erich still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Erich 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 Erich 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 Americans are named Erich?
See how many people share the name Erich on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.