Boy · Old Norse
Erik
Say it: EH-rik
Meaning
From Old Norse Eiríkr, probably ei- 'ever, always' (or ein- 'one, alone') and ríkr 'ruler'.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
A royal and saintly name in Sweden, borne by many kings, and common throughout Scandinavia.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1980s
In the United States
- 154,804 babies given this name since 1911
- At its height in 1980, about 1 in 363 boys
- 703 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Viking and Anglo-Saxon Age700 to 1100
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Eric
| Old Norse | Eiríkr |
|---|---|
| Icelandic | Eiríkur |
| Norwegian | Eirik |
| Finnish | Eero |
| English | Eric |
Famous bearers
- Erik the Red, founder of the Norse settlement in Greenland
- Saint Erik, king of Sweden
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Royal and noble genealogies
- The Icelandic sagas and other Old Norse literature
- Viking Age runestone inscriptions
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.