Erik
Derived from the ancient Norse name Eiríkr, meaning "absolute ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 148,999 living Americans carry the first name Erik. It sits at #476 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Erik today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Erik births was 1980 (4,955 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Erik. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Erik with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Erik is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 666 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
149K
~ 1 in 2,300 Americans
Peak year
1980
4,955 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#476
Tracked since 1911
Census
Erik in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 137,635 people with the first name Erik, which placed it at #410 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
#410
National first-name rank
People counted
138K
137,635 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
45.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Erik
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erik is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.1%) and Black (3.9%). 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 Erik 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 Erik at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.3% · 87,108
- Hispanic or Latino28.1% · 38,730
- Black or African American3.9% · 5,393
- Two or more races2.7% · 3,779
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 2,107
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 518
Gender
Gender distribution for Erik
Out of the 157,566 babies given the name Erik since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Erik as a male name
- Ranked #476 in 2024
- 644 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1980 (4,914 births)
Erik as a female name
- Ranked #14,305 in 2008
- 7 female births in 2008
- Peak: 1980 (41 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Erik appears almost entirely male. Of the 137,631 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Erik: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Erik from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 36,608 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Erik 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 Erik during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Eriks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Erik, while Wyoming, Vermont, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,033 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Erik
Erik is a traditionally Scandinavian name, derived from the Old Norse words "ari" meaning "warrior" and "rik" meaning "ruler" or "wealthy." The name is believed to have originated in the Viking Age, which spanned from the late 8th century to the late 11th century. It was a popular name among the Norse people who inhabited modern-day Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.
The name Erik is first recorded in the 9th century Ynglinga saga, an Old Norse prose work that details the legendary rulers of Sweden. One of the earliest documented individuals with the name was Erik Anundsson, a semi-legendary Swedish king who ruled in the 7th century.
In the 11th century, Erik the Victorious was a Swedish king who played a significant role in consolidating the Swedish kingdom and promoting Christianity. He was born around 945 AD and ruled from 970 to 995 AD.
Another notable Erik was Erik the Red, the famous Norse explorer who is credited with founding the first European settlement in Greenland around 985 AD. He was born in Norway around 950 AD and later settled in Iceland before his explorations in Greenland.
In the 12th century, Erik Jedvardsson was a Swedish king who ruled from 1156 to 1167 AD. He is known for his efforts to strengthen the power of the Swedish monarchy and his involvement in the ongoing conflicts between the Church and the monarchy.
Erik XIV was a 16th-century Swedish king who reigned from 1560 to 1568 AD. He is known for his efforts to promote the Reformation in Sweden and his tragic downfall, which led to his imprisonment and eventual death in 1577.
These are just a few examples of notable historical figures who bore the name Erik. Throughout the centuries, the name has remained popular in Scandinavian countries and has also gained popularity in other parts of the world due to its strong historical and cultural associations.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Erik
People
Erik + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Erik 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
Erik: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Erik?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 148,999 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Erik 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 2,300 US residents.
Is Erik a common name?
We classify Erik as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 157,566 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Erik most popular?
The single biggest year for Erik was 1980, when 4,955 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Erik is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Erik in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 137,635 people with the name Erik, or 45.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #410 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 Erik 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 Erik?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Erik appears almost entirely male. Of the 137,631 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Erik?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erik is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.1%) and Black (3.9%). 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 Erik most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Erik in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.3% (87,108 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 Erik in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Erik a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Erik 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 Erik still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Erik 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 Erik 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 are called Erik?
You can see how many people have the name Erik on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.