Eric

Where Eric comes from

From Middle English Eric, from Old English Eoric, from Old Norse Eirríkr, Eiríkr (from ei (“always, eternal”, see aye) + ríkr (“ruler”)), or from Proto-Germanic *Aizarīkijaz (from *aizō (“honor”) + *rīkijaz (“ruler”)). Less likely from einn (“sole, alone”) + ríkr (“ruler”), from Proto-Germanic *rīks (“king”, cognate to Latin rēx and Gaulish *rīx). The name was in use in Anglo-Saxon Britain, reinforced by Scandinavian settlers before the Norman Conquest. Compare Danish Erik, German Erich. Possible doublet of Euric.
— Wiktionary's entry for Eric
  • Germanic
  • 2 syllables
Eric through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #600 among boys, with 10 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1917
    Eric Hobsbawm born
    British academic historian and Marxist historiographer
  3. 1945
    Eric Clapton born
    British musician
  4. 1976
    Peak, #13
    21,359 babies named Eric, its best rank.
  5. 1997
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #35.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from the Germanic languages.
Namesakes
  • Eric Clapton · British musician, born 1945
  • Eric Hobsbawm · British academic historian and Marxist historiographer, 1917–2012
  • Eric Abidal · French footballer, born 1979
  • Eric Allin Cornell · American physicist, professor, born 1961
  • Eric Bana · Australian actor, born 1968

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.