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Erin - Origin and Meaning of the name

Meaning of the name Erin

[ 2 syll. e-rin, er-in ] The girl name Erin is also used as a boy name, though it is far more popular for girls. It is pronounced EHRIHN KEY. Erin is of Celtic origin. It is used mainly in English and Irish. The meaning of Erin is 'Irish woman'. Derived from the word Éire with the meaning 'Ireland'. The name is Anglicized from Eireann, which is from Éire, the traditional Gaelic name for Ireland. The name Erin itself has been used as a poetic name for Ireland in many poems and songs, and it thus evokes a sentimental appeal among people of Irish roots. The given name was first used by English speakers in the 19th century. It initially appeared in the USA, and then it spread to Canada, Australia, and England via Irish migrants. It has been increasingly adopted by people with no Irish associations.

Forms of the name include the English Arin, the English and Irish Eireann, the English Eri, the English Erina, the English Erinna, the English Erinne, and the English Kerin. The spelling variants Aerynne (English), Aren (English), Arinne (Gaelic), Erinn (English), Eryn (English and Irish), and Erynn (English) are other forms of Erin.

Erin is popular as a baby girl name. The name grew in popularity from the 1950s up to the 1980s. At the peak of its usage in 1983, 0.829% of baby girls were named Erin. It was #18 in rank then. The baby name has dropped in popularity since then. In 2008, it ranked at #164 with a usage of only 0.099%, but it was nevertheless the most widely used out of all girl names in its family. Erin has in the last century been primarily given to girls. In 1996, 46 times more girls than boys were given the name Erin.

Baby names that sound like Erin include the English Erinn, the English Erinne, the English and Irish Eryn, the English Eiren, the English and Greek Eirene, the English and German Erma, the German Ermin, the English Ermine, the English, German, Scandinavian, and Spanish Erna, the Welsh Aeron, the Welsh Aeronwen, the Welsh Aeronwy, the English Aireen, the Tamil Aram, the English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish Irma, the English Irmen, the English Irmine, the Estonian Urmi, the English Eirena, and the Maori and English Erena.

A famous person named Erin is Singer Erin McKeown, born 15 October 1977, Boston, Massachusetts.

KEY: Pronunciation for Erin: EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"


 
Popularity Trend
for Erin
from 1900 to 2008
Variant Popularity Chart
for Erin
in 2008
 

Meaning of Erin Meaning of Erynn Meaning of Eryn Meaning of Erinn Meaning of Arinne Meaning of Aren Meaning of Aerynne Meaning of Kerin Meaning of Erinne Meaning of Erinna Meaning of Erina Meaning of Eri Meaning of Eireann Meaning of Arin Meaning of Aren Meaning of Eri Meaning of Eran Meaning of Arin Meaning of Aaron Meaning of Erin