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Erich

#5,934 in 2025Boys' name

Ruler, through Eric

Erich has been given to 11,706 babies in the U.S. since 1894. In 2025 it ranked #5,934 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1971, with 343 recorded.

Babies named Erich, 2025

1 in 221,000

Erich over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Erich: meaning, origin, and history

Ruler, through Eric

Old Norse

What Erich means

Erich belongs to the name family reached through Erich → Eric → Eric. Its meaning is “ruler”.

Origin, language, and formation

Erich is used in German. Its origins include Old Norse.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Eric.

Pronunciation and spelling

In German, Erich is pronounced [ˈeːʁɪç].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 11,674 boys were recorded with the name Erich between 1894 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 343 in 1971; its best national rank was #441 in 1971.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,523 in 2020 to #5,934 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #3,808 in 2015 to #5,934 in 2025.

In the United States, 32 girls were recorded with the name Erich between 1976 and 2011. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1976; its best national rank was #7,529 in 1976.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Erich?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 221,000
15 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 114,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#5,934
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
153,194 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Erich sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 153,194 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Erich. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Erichs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Erich was born before 1977 — so the typical Erich is around 48 today.

Median birth year
1977
About 48 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
22.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
9.1%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
10,605
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 22.6% of all recorded uses (2,643).

Is Erich rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−209
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−411
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,126
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.54×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
4.4%
Peak was 1971 (343)
Years since peak
54
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
24.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#441
1971

Spellings of Erich

Erich is not the most common spelling — Eric is, with 65.3% against Erich's 0.86%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Erich is used

Across 1910–2025, Erich was most concentrated in Wisconsin — about 1 in 9,091 boys, against 1 in 20,215 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in —).

011 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Wisconsin1 in 9,091
  2. 2Illinois1 in 12,500
  3. 3Michigan1 in 12,500
  4. 4New Jersey1 in 12,500
  5. 5New York1 in 12,500
  6. 6California1 in 14,286
  7. 7Ohio1 in 14,286
  8. 8Minnesota1 in 16,667

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Erich has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Erich around the world

Where Erich ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • France
    1900–1987
    #2,488
    in 1987
  • Canada
    1991–2011
    #2,664
    in 2011
  • South Australia
    1952–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Erich

People whose public names include Erich, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Erich in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Erich. Linked forms have their own page here.

EricErikErykHeinHenkEirikEnricHarryHeinzHenryEnricoHaraldHaroldHenrikHenrykEnriqueHendricHendrikHenrichHeinrichHenriqueÈricÉricHenke

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Erich by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,934
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 411
Best rank ever
#441
1971
Peak year
1971
343 that year
First recorded
1894
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
11,674
Count in 2025
15

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#7,529
1976
Peak year
1976
7 that year
First recorded
1976
Last recorded
2011
All-time count
32
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Erich

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ErinErickErionRichErikEricaErieErisEribertoErianEricsonErikaEricksonErielEriqEriEriksonEricUlrichEriceDietrichErinnAldrichErique

Names with a curve like Erich

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Erich, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

RodrickBryonAndreaDonnellWilfredoBrantEdwardoJedBradlyClintReinaldoChet

Sibling names for Erich

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Erich

Top names of 1971, Erich's peak yearThe 1970s in fullOther names that peaked in 1971Boys' names starting with EGerman NamesUncommon German Boy Names