Erwin
Meaning
boar friend; famously borne by Erwin Schrödinger, physicist known for the wave equation and the 'Schrödinger's cat' thought experiment
The story
Erwin carries the old Germanic image of the boar friend, the wild boar being, in the old stories, an emblem of courage, and it has stayed a staple in Germany and Austria into modern times. Science remembers one Erwin above all: Erwin Schrödinger, the Viennese physicist whose 1926 wave equation became the mathematical heart of quantum mechanics, and whose thought experiment about a cat both alive and dead until observed turned into the most famous illustration in modern physics. In the United States the name has kept a modest, remarkably steady line since the 1890s, softening a little in the late twentieth century and holding firm since. Erwin today sits in an interesting spot: familiar enough to pronounce on the first try, rare enough to surprise, and attached to the single most quotable cat in science.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Erwin peaked in the 1890s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
455 people · the #14,282 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 500,000 · median age 46
Among people named Erwin living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Erwin
People given the name Erwin in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 2009. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Erwin deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Erwin truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Erwin fits with your family’s names and surname.
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German Brazilian baby names · Names of geniuses and inventors
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