Humanverse

Erica vs Erie

American parents have registered 232,637 Ericas since 1880, against 3,440 Eries. Erica is still ahead, with 156 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Erica against Erie, 1880 to 2025 0 3k 6k 9k 12k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Erica Erie

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

Of the 145 years in which either name was published, Erica for 85 years and Erie for 60 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Erica Erie
Total US births 232,6373,440
Most in one year 10,03281
Babies in 2025 1566
Estimated living today 224,0001,800
Median age today 3953
Peak year 19861970
Best rank 31st girls895th boys
Rank in 2025 1,396thunranked
First recorded 19091880
Girls / boys 231,613 / 1,0241,482 / 1,958

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 Eries alive today are over 53; half the Ericas are over 39. That is 14 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: Erica and Erie.