Humanverse

Eric vs Erikka

American parents have registered 893,184 Erics since 1880, against 981 Erikkas. Eric is still ahead, with 1,256 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Eric against Erikka, 1880 to 2025 0 6k 12k 18k 24k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Eric Erikka

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Eric has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1997, when Eric had 10,354 and Erikka had 30.

Side by side

  Eric Erikka
Total US births 893,184981
Most in one year 23,71950
Babies in 2025 1,256under 5
Estimated living today 797,000950
Median age today 4437
Peak year 19701990
Best rank 18th boys2,437th girls
Rank in 2025 273rdunranked
First recorded 18801967
Girls / boys 4,293 / 888,891981 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Erics alive today are over 44; half the Erikkas are over 37. That is 7 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Eric and Erikka.