Erine
An English baby name of unknown origin, perhaps related to "Irene".
Name Census estimates that about 93 living Americans carry the first name Erine. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Erine today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Erine births was 1979 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Erine. 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 Erine with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Erine. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
93
~ 1 in 3,685,531 Americans
Peak year
1979
11 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1975 SSA rank
#5,002
Tracked since 1974
Census
Erine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 264 people with the first name Erine, which placed it at #32,084 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
#32,084
National first-name rank
People counted
264
264 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Erine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erine is White at 43.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.0%) and Black (18.9%). 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 Erine 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 Erine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.2% · 114
- Hispanic or Latino22.0% · 58
- Black or African American18.9% · 50
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.6% · 36
- Two or more races1.9% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Erine
Erine leans heavily female at 88.0% of total registrations, but 12 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Erine as a male name
- Ranked #5,002 in 1975
- 6 male births in 1975
- Peak: 1974 (6 births)
Erine as a female name
- Ranked #10,552 in 1990
- 7 female births in 1990
- Peak: 1979 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Erine on both sides of the split. Of the 265 people counted with this name, 107 were male (40.4%) and 158 were female (59.6%).
Popularity
Erine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Erine from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 55 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
Erine 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 Erine 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 Erine
The name Erine has its origins in the ancient Gaelic language, which was spoken in parts of Ireland and Scotland during the Middle Ages. It is believed to have derived from the Irish word "Éireann," which means "Ireland" or "Green Isle." This connection to the Emerald Isle suggests that the name may have initially been used to denote someone of Irish descent or with strong ties to the country.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Erine can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. In the year 1014, a woman named Erine Ua Lochlainn is mentioned as the wife of the King of Ailech, a powerful Irish kingdom in the northern part of the country. This suggests that the name was already in use among the noble classes of Ireland by the 11th century.
In the 12th century, the name appears in the Icelandic Landnámabók, which records the settlement of Iceland by Norse settlers. One of the settlers, a woman named Erine Eyvindardóttir, is mentioned as having arrived in Iceland from Ireland. This indicates that the name had already spread beyond Ireland and was being used among the Norse-Gaelic population of the time.
Throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period, several notable individuals bore the name Erine. One such person was Erine O'Donnell, a 16th-century Irish chieftain who played a significant role in the Nine Years' War against English rule in Ireland (c. 1594-1603). Another was Erine MacCarthy, a 17th-century Irish noblewoman who was a prominent patron of the arts and literature (c. 1625-1698).
In the 18th century, the name Erine continued to be used in Ireland, as evidenced by the existence of Erine O'Sullivan (c. 1720-1782), a renowned Irish poet and storyteller. Across the Atlantic, the name also found its way to the American colonies, where Erine Fitzpatrick (c. 1745-1810) was a notable figure in the American Revolution, serving as a scout and messenger for the Continental Army.
Moving into the 19th century, the name Erine became less common, but still appeared occasionally. One notable bearer was Erine O'Conor (c. 1820-1884), an Irish journalist and political activist who advocated for Irish independence from British rule. Despite its relative rarity, the name Erine has endured as a testament to its deep roots in Irish history and culture.
People
Erine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Erine 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
Erine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Erine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 93 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Erine 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 3,685,531 US residents.
Is Erine a common name?
We classify Erine as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 100 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Erine most popular?
The single biggest year for Erine was 1979, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Erine is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Erine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 264 people with the name Erine, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,084 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 Erine 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 Erine?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Erine on both sides of the split. Of the 265 people counted with this name, 107 were male (40.4%) and 158 were female (59.6%). 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 Erine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erine is White at 43.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.0%) and Black (18.9%). 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 Erine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Erine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.2% (114 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 Erine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Erine a female name?
Yes, 88.0% of people registered as Erine 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 Erine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Erine 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 Erine 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 Erine as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Erine on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.