Erik

Erik is a Scandinavian form of the Old Norse name Eiríkr, composed of the elements ei, meaning ever or always, and ríkr, meaning ruler or king, giving the overall sense of eternal ruler. The name was borne by numerous early Scandinavian kings and explorers, most famously the Norse explorer Eiríkr rauði, known in English as Eric the Red, who led the first European settlement of Greenland in the tenth century. Erik spread widely through European languages during and after the Viking Age, producing cognates and variants such as Eric, Eirik, Eerik, Erich, and Henrik, which took a different developmental path. It remains a popular given name across Scandinavia and has been adopted in many other linguistic traditions including Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Spanish, and Dutch.