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Erykah

#13,729 in 2025Girls' name

Variant of Erica

Erykah has been given to 1,554 babies in the U.S. since 1997. In 2025 it ranked #13,729 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1997, with 279 recorded.

Babies named Erykah, 2025

1 in 553,000

Erykah over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Erykah: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Erica

Germanic languages

What Erykah means

Erykah is a variant of Erica.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Erykah is used in English (Modern).

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈɛɹ.ɪ.kə/ for Erykah.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Erykah → Erica → Eric. The family’s meaning is “ruler”, recorded in English with the source elements ríkr.

Origin, language, and formation

Erykah is used in English. Its origins include Germanic languages.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Erica.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,554 girls were recorded with the name Erykah between 1997 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 279 in 1997; its best national rank was #757 in 1997.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #9,775 in 2020 to #13,729 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #7,073 in 2015 to #13,729 in 2025.

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 Erykah?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 268,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#13,729
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Erykah sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

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 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Erykah. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Erykahs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Erykah was born before 2000 — so the typical Erykah is around 25 today.

Median birth year
2000
About 25 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
44.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
49.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,554
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 44.1% of all recorded uses (685).

Is Erykah 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
−7,001
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,954
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−6,656
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.35×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
2.2%
Peak was 1997 (279)
Years since peak
28
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
30.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#757
1997

Spellings of Erykah

Erykah is not the most common spelling — Erika is, with 93.7% against Erykah's 1.2%.

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 Erykah is used

Across 1910–2025, Erykah was most concentrated in Florida — about 1 in 50,000 girls, against 1 in 171,388 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Florida1 in 50,000
  2. 2Alabama1 in 100,000
  3. 3California1 in 100,000
  4. 4District of Columbia1 in 100,000
  5. 5Georgia1 in 100,000
  6. 6Illinois1 in 100,000
  7. 7Louisiana1 in 100,000
  8. 8Maryland1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Erykah has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Erykah around the world

Where Erykah 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.

  • England & Wales
    1997–2018
    #5,666
    in 2018
  • France
    2010–2023
    #6,101
    in 2023
  • Canada
    1997–2020
    #2,936
    in 2020
  • South Australia
    2000–2012
    #871
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Erykah by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#13,729
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,954
Best rank ever
#757
1997
Peak year
1997
279 that year
First recorded
1997
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,554
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Erykah

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

ErynnRivkahMikahMykahErykaMalikahErynEryssErynneMakkahRebekkahErikahMeekahErycaEryanaRebeckahAnikahEryannaBekahErysBarakahRebakahAnnikahRebekah

Sibling names for Erykah

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 Erykah

Top names of 1997, Erykah's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1997Girls' names starting with E