Erlene
A feminine name meaning "noble" or "noble woman".
Name Census estimates that about 639 living Americans carry the first name Erlene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Erlene today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Erlene births was 1930 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Erlene. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Erlene is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Erlenes were born before 1962.
People living today
639
~ 1 in 536,392 Americans
Peak year
1930
74 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
1988 SSA rank
#8,635
Tracked since 1903
Census
Erlene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,149 people with the first name Erlene, which placed it at #11,266 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
#11,266
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,149 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Erlene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erlene is White at 65.3%. The next largest groups are Black (20.5%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Erlene 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 Erlene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.3% · 750
- Black or African American20.5% · 236
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 57
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.0% · 57
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 26
- Two or more races2.0% · 23
Popularity
Erlene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Erlene from the 1900s through to the 1980s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 578 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Erlene 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 Erlene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Erlenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. California, Texas, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Erlene, while South Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Erlene
The name Erlene is believed to have originated in the Germanic language family, specifically from the Old German elements "erl," meaning "noble," and "lind," meaning "gentle" or "tender." This combination suggests that the name Erlene could be interpreted as "nobly gentle" or "tenderly noble."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Erlene can be traced back to the 9th century, when it appeared in the Codex Sangallensis, an ancient Germanic manuscript. However, the name's usage remained relatively obscure throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period.
The first notable figure to bear the name Erlene was Erlene von Metzingen, a German noblewoman born in 1329. She played a crucial role in the political affairs of the Holy Roman Empire during the 14th century, serving as an advisor to several influential figures of her time.
In the 16th century, the name Erlene gained some prominence with the birth of Erlene Dürer (1492-1569), the daughter of the renowned German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. She was known for her artistic talents and her collaboration with her father on several of his famous works.
Another historically significant bearer of the name was Erlene von Hohenzollern (1614-1672), a German noblewoman who served as the Duchess of Brandenburg-Ansbach. She was widely respected for her dedication to education and her patronage of the arts and sciences.
The 18th century saw the rise of Erlene Descartes (1721-1786), a French philosopher and mathematician. She made significant contributions to the fields of metaphysics and epistemology, and her work heavily influenced the development of modern philosophy.
In more recent times, one of the most notable individuals named Erlene was Erlene Haavik (1892-1978), a Norwegian explorer and writer. She gained international recognition for her expeditions to the Arctic regions and her vivid accounts of life in the far north.
While the name Erlene has never been among the most popular names, its rich history and unique blend of Germanic elements have endowed it with a sense of nobility and gentleness that continues to attract admirers from various cultural backgrounds.
People
Erlene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Erlene 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
Erlene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Erlene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 639 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Erlene 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 536,392 US residents.
Is Erlene a common name?
We classify Erlene as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,332 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Erlene most popular?
The single biggest year for Erlene was 1930, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Erlene is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Erlene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,149 people with the name Erlene, or 0.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,266 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 Erlene 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 Erlene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Erlene appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,151 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Erlene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Erlene is White at 65.3%. The next largest groups are Black (20.5%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Erlene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Erlene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.3% (750 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 Erlene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Erlene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Erlene 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 Erlene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Erlene 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 Erlene 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 Erlene as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Erlene, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.