Erich

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 16 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Erich is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• French given name5.0K records spelled Erich4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Spain, Switzerland

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Érich, Érićh

• a separate given name4.6K records spelled Erich4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Sweden

  Also written Èrich, Ėrich

• Croatian given name1.2K records spelled Erich11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Croatia, Switzerland, United States, Belgium

  Languages: Croatian, Bulgarian, Serbian

  Also written Erikh, Ерих, Erih

57 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Erich is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In German, männl. Vom., hochdeutsche Form des nordischen und niederdeutsch-friesischen

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• In French, Forme germanique de Éric, vieux norrois Eiríkr « puissant à jamais ».

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In yol, alternative form of ivery

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 123 years between 1894–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Erich Ludendorffb. 1865DEGerman general and politician (DVFP, NSFP), MdR ( (1865–1937)
• Erich von Mansteinb. 1887DEGerman field marshal (1887-1973)
• Erich Wolfgang Korngoldb. 1897ATAustrian-born American composer and conductor (1897–1957)
• Erich Maria Remarqueb. 1898DEGerman-born novelist (1898–1970)
• Curzio Malaparteb. 1898ITnot in their usual nameItalian writer (1898-1957)
• Erich Frommb. 1900DEGerman-American sociologist and psychoanalyst (1900–1980)
• Erich Honeckerb. 1912DEformer leader of East Germany, General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party (1976-1989)
• Erich von Dänikenb. 1935CHSwiss pseudoscientific writer and ufologist (1935–2026)
• Erich Segalb. 1937USAmerican writer (1937-2010)
• Erich Ribbeckb. 1937DEGerman football player and coach

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 598 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Erich?

We estimate roughly 16 thousand people bear Erich (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Erich have the most bearers?

Erich is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled erich.

How common is Erich compared with other names?

In Germany, Erich is the 141st most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Erich a male or female name?

Erich is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Erich mean?

Recorded meaning: a male given name from Old Norse, variant of Eric or Erik, feminine equivalent Erica or Erika, equivalent to English Eric