Erva vs Erving
American parents have registered 940 Ervings since 1880, against 636 Ervas. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Erva Erving
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 108 years in which either name was published, Erving for 67 years and Erva for 41 years. The lead changed hands 23 times.
- 1899–1944 Erva ahead, apart from 5 short spells
- 1946–2009 Erving ahead, apart from one short spell
- 2010–2018 Erva ahead
15 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Erva | Erving | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 636 | 940 |
| Most in one year | 27 | 23 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 120 | 440 |
| Median age today | 77 | 42 |
| Peak year | 1922 | 1921 |
| Best rank | 1,611th girls | 1,588th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1899 | 1881 |
| Girls / boys | 636 / 0 | 0 / 940 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Ervas alive today are over 77; half the Ervings are over 42. That is 35 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Erva and Erving.