Erasmus

Where Erasmus comes from

From Medieval Latin Erasmus. The EU student exchange programme is named after Erasmus of Rotterdam, and also a backronym for “European [Community] Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students”.
— Wiktionary's entry for Erasmus
  • Ancient Greek
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1466
    Erasmus born
    Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and theologian
  2. 1731
    Erasmus Darwin born
    English physician
  3. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #909 among boys — 5 babies in the first year on record.
  4. 1881
    Peak, #781
    6 babies named Erasmus — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1883
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Ancient Greek, rare in English.
Namesakes
  • Erasmus · Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and theologian, 1466–1536
  • Erasmus Darwin · English physician, 1731–1802
  • Erasmus Reinhold · German astronomer and mathematician, 1511–1553
  • Erasmus Quellinus II · Flemish painter, 1607–1678
  • Erasmus Alberus · German humanist, reformer and poet, 1500–1553

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.