Given name & surname
Erving
“a friend of the sea”
Erving is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “a friend of the sea.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “a friend of the sea.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1881. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Erving through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 940
- 940 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1921
- 23 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2018. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 23 in 1921. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 622 as a first name in 2020; 1,377 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Erving’s family of names
Erving has a related form in Ervine. Erving has a related form in Envyne. Erving has a related form in Erv.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 5
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
People named Erving
- Erving GoffmanCanadian-American sociologist (1922–1982)
- Erving WalkerAmerican basketball player (born 1990)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Erving, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Harwood
“from the hare's forest”
>99% boys
Mansfield
“from the field near the small river”
>99% boys
Morley
“woman from the moor” · “from the meadow on the moor”
92% boys · 8% girls
Boswell
“from the spring near the forest”
>99% boys
Holmes
“from the river island”
>99% boys
Sherwood
“from the bright forest”
>99% boys
Glade
“from the meadow in the C woods” · “from the clearing in the woods”
>99% boys
Irven
“a triend of the sea”
>99% boys