Eric

Where the name comes from

• Old Norse
  "... ruler". The first element is uncertain: "honored ruler" (Online Etymology Dictionary), or "eternal ruler" or "one (sole) ruler" (DMNES).
  Old Norse Eiríkr. Second element: Proto-Germanic *rīkijaz / *rik- "ruler". First element: Proto-Germanic *aiza- "honor" (etymonline), or Proto-Norse *aiwa "eternal" or *ainaz "one" (DMNES).
  Origin uncertain for the first element only. Both listed sources agree that the name is Norse and that its second element means "ruler"; they disagree about the first element. Medieval Latin records write it Ericus or Eiricus; the earliest dated form in DMNES is Eiricus, France, 1163–64. The German form is Erich. The feminine Erica is a separate entry.

Eric across traditions

• Scandinavian (Norse) royal naming. A Nordic royal name. DMNES records it as the name of two legendary kings of Sweden and a semi-legendary 9th-century Swedish king (about 1,150 years ago), and then of later kings of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Northumbria.
• Norse North Atlantic (Iceland and Greenland). Erik the Red founded the first European settlement on Greenland about 1,040 years ago (c. 985). His Icelandic name form is Eiríkur Rauði.
• Medieval and early modern Europe. Written Ericus or Eiricus in Latin (France 1163–64; Sweden 1269). Erick in Danish and in Middle Low German (Estonia). Erik, Erich and Eric in Old and Early Modern Swedish (Sweden and Finland). Eijriks in Middle Icelandic. The German form is Erich.
• United States (SSA). 1,018,159 combined US births, 1950s–2010s: Eric 857,502, Erik 139,227 and Erick 21,430. Peak decade: the 1970s, when Eric ranked #14 among boys (211,481 births; 243,575 including Erik). Eric by decade: 1950s #74, 1960s #28, 1970s #14, 1980s #21, 1990s #29, 2000s #63, 2010s #123.

Who carried it

• Erik the Red (Eiríkur Rauði; also called Erik Thorvaldsson) (Flourished c. 951–c. 1000 (about 1,075 to 1,025 years ago)): Founded the first European settlement on Greenland (c. 985). Father of Leif Erikson.
• Legendary and early kings of Sweden named Erik (Legendary; one semi-legendary king in the 9th century (about 1,150 years ago)): DMNES lists them as the first bearers of the name. It stayed a royal name in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

Forms in other languages

Erik, Erick, Erich, Eirik, Eiríkur, Ericus (medieval Latin)

Eric in letter-number systems

Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.