The story in the numbers

316,248 girls have been named Erin in the United States since 1888, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1983, with 14,837 births — 0.89% of all girls recorded that year.

The name has all but left use: 352 births in 2024, against 14,837 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1984, and the 1980s alone account for 37%. It has spent 74 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 34 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 9,455 boys have also been given it, 2.9% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Erin

209

183

198

536

4,382

15,571

67,891

115,811

65,334

33,368

10,285

2,337

In 1983, its biggest year

Erin was the 18th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1983 were Jennifer, Jessica, Amanda, Ashley and Sarah. See all of 1983.

Names that rose and fell with Erin

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.