Erica

Spellings & scripts●(measured from records)

Locally spelled Erika in US United States, SE Sweden, DE Germany and 4 more, אריקה in HU Hungary and Эрика in FI Finland.

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

Meaning & origin●(measured from records)

Attested across 14 languages in the etymology graph.

Often considered alongside

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Erica, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Heather
• Rikki
• Danielle
• Jessica
• Christina
• Alyssa
• Courtney
• Monica
• Amanda
• Brittany
• Andrea
• Danica

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Other names spelled this way◐(inferred from the name graph)

Erica is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name59 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada

  Languages: English, German, Portuguese

  Also written Érica, Ërïcä, 'Erica, Èrica, Ericà

• a separate name5 spellings in the group

  Also written Érica, Èrica, Êrica, E-Rica

• Hungarian given name6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Hungary, Sweden, Finland

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Érica

• Catalan given name2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Andorra

  Also written Érica

• Vietnamese given name3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Vietnam, Philippines, United Kingdom

  Languages: Vietnamese, Khmer

  Also written Érica

• Korean given name8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, South Korea, Canada, United Kingdom

  Also written Erika, 에리카, Erykah, Érica, Erikâ

69 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●(measured from records)

Erica is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Feminine form of Eric. An alternative spelling is Ericka.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, A female given name from the Germanic languages or Old Norse.

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

• In French, Féminin d’Éric, vieux norrois Eiríkr « puissant à jamais ».

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In English, Feminine form of Eric.

  as a name·Irish first names

• Soberana poderosa

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

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.

Notable people with this name●(measured from records)

• Erica Jongb. 1942USAmerican novelist, poet, memoirist, critic
• Erica Gimpelb. 1964USAmerican actress
• Erika Eleniakb. 1969USAmerican-Canadian actress of Estonian-Ukrainian descent (born 1969)
• Erykah Badub. 1971USnot in their usual nameAmerican singer-songwriter (born 1971)
• Erica McDermottb. 1973USAmerican actress
• Erica Leerhsenb. 1976USAmerican actress
• Erica Duranceb. 1978CACanadian actress
• Erica Cerrab. 1979CACanadian actress
• Erica Lindbeckb. 1992USAmerican voice actress (born 1992)
• Erica Beckb. 1992USAmerican actress

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).

How to address them○(machine-generated)

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

Evidence●(measured from records)

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

What are other forms of the name Erica?

In the etymology graph, Erika, Ericka and Eryka are forms of the same name in other languages.

Where does the name Erica come from?

Latinate feminine form of pEric, coined towards the end of the 18th century. It has also been reinforced by the fact that erica is the Latin word for ‘heather’. Recorded by A concise dictionary of first names.

How common is the name Erica?

In Brazil, the national register counted 201,183 people named Erica in 2022, about 1 in 1.1 thousand residents.

How common is Erica compared with other names?

In the United States, Erica is the 348th most common given name of 2,815,431 given names recorded there.

Is Erica a male or female name?

Erica is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Erica mean?

Recorded meaning: Latinate feminine form of pEric, coined towards the end of the 18th century.

How do you pronounce Erica?

A machine transcription gives /ɛɹɪkə/ (IPA) for English.

In which country does Erica have the most bearers?

In the United States, the national register counted about 767 thousand people named Eric, more than in any other country we hold.

Where is Erica most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Erica is densest in Brazil — about 1 in 1.1 thousand people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.