Eric

What Eric means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Eric yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1970, with 23,571 babies; 1,256 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Eric?

US: Falling: down from #138 in 2015. England & Wales: Steady: #173 in 2015, #168 now.

Biggest US share so far: 1976, when 21,359 boys got the name (#13 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,360 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 906 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 1,964 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DC (1.98 per 1,000 boys), MS (1.48 per 1,000 boys), LA (1.36 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Eric is #273 in the US and #168 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Eric were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Erick879 US · 27 E&W
• Erik549 US · 99 E&W
• Arik35 US · 4 E&W
• Aric24 US
• Eryk6 US · 13 E&W
• Eirik9 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Eric

Boys

• Raymond#394“advice + protection”^*
• Richard#234“king, ruler + hard, brave”^*
• Jeffrey#552Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #552 vs #1,705 in 2025
• Robert#92“shining glory”^*
• Frank#513Form of Francis, meaning “Frankish (man); a Frank”^*
• Ronald#637“advice + power”^*

For a sister

• Alicia#460Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 7,820 babies; 672 in 2025
• Linda#902“tender, soft”^*
• Alison#476“of noble kind”^*
• Anne#619Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1959, with 5,745 babies; 472 in 2025
• Alyssa#453“a plant of the genus Alyssum”^*
• Allison#103Form of Elon, meaning “oak tree”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Eric’s. Rank is US 2025.