Name of the Week: Erica

 

 

 

Origin:

Erica (or Erika) is a feminine form of Eric/Erik, the younger form of the Old Norse Eiríkr. The first element is either the Old Norse einn "one, alone, unique," or ei "ever, always, eternity" and the second is from ríkr "ruler, mighty." Erica is also the Latin for "heather". It further serves as the botanical name for the genus as well as the common name for 'winter heather'.

Usage:

The masculine form, Erik, was prolific in Scandinavia from the early Middle Ages onwards. Dating from the 9th century onwards, there were no fewer than six Danish kings, five Norwegian kings and fourteen Swedish kings to bear the name Erik.  Some of the early Viking raiders brought the name with the over to Britain — Eric Haakonsson (960s–1020s) was not only the governor of Norway, he was also Earl of Northumberland — but it saw only limited usage here, and did not survive the Norman Conquest.  It was revived in Scotland from at least the 17th century, perhaps because of the links Scotland had with Scandinavia at the time. Though it was used in small numbers before, it only came back into popular use in England and Wales in the 19th century, inspired by Frederic Farrar's Eric: or Little by Little (1858).  As for the feminine form Erika, its usage as a name came comparatively late. According to the excellent database Nordic Names, the earliest documented use for Erika in Denmark was 1686, with the 18th century being cited for Norway and Sweden.  In Britain, Erica came into use in the 19th century, especially from late 1880s when flower names became all the rage. Due to Erica being the name for heather, it seems that it owed its use at this time just as much (if not more) to its being a botanical name, as it did to being the feminine form of Eric. The letters of correspondence to The Standard newspaper in April 1892 concerning floral names mention Erica several times. One letter even recounted, "I have a dear young friend somewhere in this country who (about eleven years ago) was christened Erica [...] Her parents, it was rumoured, had plighted their troth "Out in the sunshine, over the heather."" The name may even have been promoted by Edna Lyalls novel We Two (1884) in which the heroine was named Erica.  A breakdown of the number of registrations in E&W for Erica and Erika per decade are as follow:   Erica Erika 1840s: 1850s: 1860s: 1870s: 1880s: 1890s: 1900s: 1910s: 1920s: 1930s: 1940s: 1950s: 1960s: 3 births 0 births 6 births 10 births 37 births 122 births 138 births 177 births 349 births 440 births 998 births 1524 births 1753 births 1 birth 0 births 0 births 0 births 1 birth 1 birth 13 births 12 births 3 births 16 births 128 births  395 births 533 births Leslie Dunkling's sample for girls named Erica and Erika in every 10,000 births are as follows:   1900 1925 1935 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 Erica        2    8    4    4   12   5    2    6    -    4 Erika   -   -    -    -    -    -    2    1    -    6    2    6 click to enlarge Since 1996, both Erica and Erika have remained quite consistent in their popularity and usage in England and Wales. Erica has remained within the top 500, while Erika has maintained a rank of between #450 and #700.  In Scotland, Erica has been marginally more popular, ranking mostly in the top 400 since 1974. It's lowest rank was #799 (2 births) in 1992 and it's highest was #186 (26 births) in 1981.  In 2015, Erica ranked #350 (134 births) in England and Wales and #236 (17 births) in Scotland.  Erika ranked #461 (94 births) in E&W and #509 (6 births) in Scotland.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Erika Liebman (1738–1803), Swedish poet. * Erika Voigt (1898–1952), Danish actress. * Erika Cremer (1900–1996), German physicist. * Erika von Brockdorff (1911–1943), German resistance fighter during the Second World War. Contemporary: * Erica Jong (born 1942), American author. * Erika Alexander (born 1969), American actress. * Erykah Badu (born 1971), American singer-songwriter, record producer, activist, and actress. * Erica Atkins-Campbell (born 1972), American singer. * Erica Durance (born 1978), Canadian actress. Literature and Other Media: * Erica Kane, a long-running character on the American soap opera All My Children. * Erica Hahn, a character from the television series Grey's Anatomy.

Variants:

Erika (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian), Eerika (Finnish)

Pronunciation:

E-ree-kə [key]

Possible  diminutives:

Eri, Riki

Sibling Names:

Anya     Marnie     Frida     Lois     Maxine     Briony  Ralph     Anders    Craig     Philip     Glenn     Iain

Name Lists:

Scandi Familiars

  

If you like Erica you may also like:   Viveka, Heidi, Annika, Hazel, Olive, Veronica, Heather, Monica, Danica, Hope

Thanks to Joan for requesting this name.