Erykah Badu
There are approximately 1 people named Erykah Badu living in the United States today. That makes this name combination very rare, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 342,754,338 Americans.
This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name Erykah with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Badu. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and Census demographics where available.
Expected bearers
1
1 in 342,754,338
Named Erykah
1.5K
Alive today
Named Badu
553
Alive today
US population
343M
Denominator
Estimated living: 1.5K
Rarity: Rare
Gender: Female
Peak year: 1997
Average age: 22
Top Census group: Black or African American (68.6%)
Estimated bearers: 553
Rarity: Very Rare
Census rank: #47,446
Per 100K: 0.16
Top ancestry: Black (85.9%)
First name trend
Erykah: popularity over time
Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name Erykah. The peak year was 1997 with 279 births. The average person named Erykah today is 22 years old.
Babies born per year
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Erykah
Self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people with the first name Erykah, from the 2020 US Census Bureau first-name tables. The largest published group is Black or African American at 68.6%.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Erykah described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. These are self-reported numbers, and they describe the population who happened to carry the name Erykah at the time of the Census. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity.
- Black or African American68.6% · 833
- Hispanic or Latino11.3% · 137
- White9.6% · 116
- Two or more races8.2% · 100
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 11
Ethnicity
Ancestry of the Badu surname
Self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people with the surname Badu, from the 2020 US Census Bureau. The largest group is Black at 85.9%.
The bar chart below shows how people with the surname Badu described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. These are self-reported numbers, and they describe the population who happened to carry the surname Badu at the time of the Census. A surname does not determine a person's race or ethnicity.
- Black or African American85.9% · 414
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.7% · 37
- White5.0% · 24
- Two or more races1.2% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 1
Methodology
How we calculated this
The first name Erykah has a living-bearer frequency of 0.0004% of the US population, based on 1,519 estimated living Americans carrying this first name (from SSA birth records going back to 1880, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables).
Even though the Census Bureau now publishes first-name tables, we do not use that file as the main first-name input for this estimate. The latest first-name Census snapshot is from 2020, which makes it 6 years old today. Because Census first-name data is only released once every 10 years, SSA birth records plus CDC survival rates give a better current estimate of how many people are likely alive with the name Erykah right now.
The surname Badu appears at a rate of 0.16 per 100,000 residents in the 2020 Census Bureau surname file, which translates to a frequency of 0.0002%.
Multiplying these two independent frequencies against the current US population of 342,754,338 gives an expected count of approximately 1 people with the full name Erykah Badu. This assumes statistical independence between first and last names, which is a simplification but produces reasonable estimates for most combinations.
FAQ
Erykah Badu: questions and answers
How many people are named Erykah Badu?
We estimate approximately 1 people in the United States share the full name Erykah Badu. That works out to about 1 in 342,754,338 Americans. This is calculated by combining the first-name frequency (0.0004%) with the surname frequency (0.16 per 100K) against the current US population.
How rare is the name Erykah Badu?
We classify Erykah Badu as "Very Rare". About 1 in 342,754,338 Americans share this exact first and last name combination.
Is Erykah a male or female name?
Erykah is predominantly female. Out of 1,548 total SSA registrations, 0.0% were male and 100.0% were female. See the full Erykah profile for detailed gender data.
Where does this data come from?
First-name data comes from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files (1880 to 2024). Surname data comes from the 2020 US Census Bureau decennial surname tables. Living-bearer estimates use CDC actuarial life tables to adjust for mortality. Read the full methodology.
How many people have the full name Erykah Badu?
You can see how many people are called Erykah Badu on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.