The story in the numbers

887,636 boys have been named Eric in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1970, with 23,573 births — 1.3% of all boys recorded that year.

It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 123 → 251).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1980, and the 1970s alone account for 24%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 61 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 4,293 girls have also been given it, 0.48% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

By decade

Decade

boys named Eric

122

204

262

1,311

2,027

2,796

15,192

53,297

152,216

211,494

204,246

135,242

69,476

31,539

8,212

In 1970, its biggest year

Eric was the 18th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1970 were Michael, James, David, John and Robert. See all of 1970.

Names that rose and fell with Eric

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.