Erin
A Celtic name derived from the Irish word "Éireamhón" meaning "peace" or "prosperous".
Name Census estimates that about 304,342 living Americans carry the first name Erin. It is a predominantly female name (97.1% of registrations). The average person named Erin today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Erin births was 1983 (15,051 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Erin. 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 Erin with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Erin is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 9,455 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Erin have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
304K
~ 1 in 1,126 Americans
Peak year
1983
15,051 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#797
Tracked since 1888
Census
Erin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 301,437 people with the first name Erin, which placed it at #170 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
#170
National first-name rank
People counted
301K
301,437 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
99.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Erin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erin is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.1%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Erin 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 Erin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.0% · 262,315
- Black or African American4.1% · 12,355
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 10,788
- Two or more races3.0% · 9,097
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 5,601
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1,281
Gender
Gender distribution for Erin
Erin leans heavily female at 97.1% of total registrations, but 9,455 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Erin as a male name
- Ranked #3,616 in 2024
- 31 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1974 (321 births)
Erin as a female name
- Ranked #797 in 2024
- 352 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1983 (14,837 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Erin leans strongly female. 293,703 people counted with this name were female (97.4%), compared with 7,734 male bearers (2.6%).
Popularity
Erin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Erin from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 118,013 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
Erin 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 Erin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Erins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Erin, while Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6,280 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Erin
The name Erin is derived from the Irish Gaelic word "Éirinn", which means "an abundant land" or "green land". It is the name of the island of Ireland and has been used as a given name for both males and females.
Erin has been a popular name in Ireland for centuries, and it is believed to have its roots in ancient Celtic mythology. The name is closely associated with the Irish goddess of sovereignty, Ériu, who was said to have been one of the wives of the mythical king Éber.
The earliest recorded use of the name Erin dates back to the 16th century, when it was used as a poetic name for Ireland. It became more widely used as a personal name in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly among Irish families living in the United States and other English-speaking countries.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Erin was Erin the Messenger, a 6th-century Irish monk and scribe who is believed to have been one of the first to bring Christianity to Scotland. Another early figure was Erin of Clonmacnoise, a 9th-century Irish princess and abbess who founded a monastery in County Offaly, Ireland.
In more recent history, notable individuals named Erin include Erin Brockovich (born 1960), an American legal clerk and environmental activist whose fight against Pacific Gas and Electric Company was the subject of a 2000 film starring Julia Roberts. Erin Moran (1960-2017) was an American actress best known for her role as Joanie Cunningham on the sitcom "Happy Days".
Other famous Erins include Erin Andrews (born 1978), an American sportscaster and television personality, and Erin Hunter (born 1963), the pen name of several authors who write the popular children's book series "Warriors".
In the literary world, one of the most notable Erins is Erin Morgenstern (born 1978), the American author of the bestselling novel "The Night Circus".
Notable bearers
Famous people named Erin
People
Erin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Erin 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
Erin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Erin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 304,342 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Erin 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 1,126 US residents.
Is Erin a common name?
We classify Erin as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 325,703 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Erin most popular?
The single biggest year for Erin was 1983, when 15,051 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Erin is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Erin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 301,437 people with the name Erin, or 99.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #170 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 Erin 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 Erin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Erin leans strongly female. 293,703 people counted with this name were female (97.4%), compared with 7,734 male bearers (2.6%). 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 Erin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erin is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.1%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Erin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Erin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (262,315 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 Erin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Erin a female name?
Yes, 97.1% of people registered as Erin in the SSA data are female. 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 Erin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Erin 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 Erin 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 Erin?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.