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Help[Opinions] Erica / Heather
Hi !!!
Erica (E-ree-ka) means 'heather' in Italian.
Unfortunately it is too similar to Erika that in Italy is currently quite trandy-trashy.
WDYTO this Italian floral name?
And Heather?
What vibe has Heather where you live?
Erica or Heather? Why?
Erica (E-ree-ka) means 'heather' in Italian.
Unfortunately it is too similar to Erika that in Italy is currently quite trandy-trashy.
WDYTO this Italian floral name?
And Heather?
What vibe has Heather where you live?
Erica or Heather? Why?
This message was edited 10/10/2017, 11:30 AM
Archived Thread - replies disabled
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Replies
Greetings from an Erica! (ETA)
Hi, my name is Erica! I was born in '91, which was right around the time the name began to decline in popularity in the United States (it enjoyed its heyday in the 80s). I knew a couple Ericas in school, as well as girls named Erika, which was slightly less common overall but seems to have followed the same popularity trend.
As far as living with the name, it wasn't always easy, especially if you don't have charisma. I was a nerd as a child and pre-adolescent (which was before being nerdy became... cool?), and an easy target for teasing / bullying. Calling me "Eric" all the time was one of the milder things my classmates did to me. Additionally, in my experience, all the Ericas (including me) constantly had their names misspelled as Erika growing up, and all the Erikas had theirs misspelled as Erica. (And then we have Ericka, Arica, and other assorted spellings, which just leave you scratching your head, wondering why their parents were being so difficult.)
I only learned a few years ago that "erica" was the Latin word for the heather flower (and, it appears, the current Italian word). Whenever I had looked up my name origin prior to that, I always found the Norse etymology (which would be the only etymology for Erika).
As for Heather, that's another very 70s and 80s name in the United States, and was more popular than Erica (and experienced a sharper decline; today, both Erica and Erika are more popular). The name Heather is consequently quite dated here. I like its soft sound, but have to admit the only Heather I met in school was a total b*tch to me, so it soured my perception of the name.
Edit: I looked back at the OP and noticed that you described Erika (specifically this spelling) as being trendy in Italy. This surprises me, considering that I didn't believe the letter K was used in the Italian language. Was I mistaken?
Hi, my name is Erica! I was born in '91, which was right around the time the name began to decline in popularity in the United States (it enjoyed its heyday in the 80s). I knew a couple Ericas in school, as well as girls named Erika, which was slightly less common overall but seems to have followed the same popularity trend.
As far as living with the name, it wasn't always easy, especially if you don't have charisma. I was a nerd as a child and pre-adolescent (which was before being nerdy became... cool?), and an easy target for teasing / bullying. Calling me "Eric" all the time was one of the milder things my classmates did to me. Additionally, in my experience, all the Ericas (including me) constantly had their names misspelled as Erika growing up, and all the Erikas had theirs misspelled as Erica. (And then we have Ericka, Arica, and other assorted spellings, which just leave you scratching your head, wondering why their parents were being so difficult.)
I only learned a few years ago that "erica" was the Latin word for the heather flower (and, it appears, the current Italian word). Whenever I had looked up my name origin prior to that, I always found the Norse etymology (which would be the only etymology for Erika).
As for Heather, that's another very 70s and 80s name in the United States, and was more popular than Erica (and experienced a sharper decline; today, both Erica and Erika are more popular). The name Heather is consequently quite dated here. I like its soft sound, but have to admit the only Heather I met in school was a total b*tch to me, so it soured my perception of the name.
Edit: I looked back at the OP and noticed that you described Erika (specifically this spelling) as being trendy in Italy. This surprises me, considering that I didn't believe the letter K was used in the Italian language. Was I mistaken?
This message was edited 10/12/2017, 1:00 PM
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I like Erica much better than Eric. And I was at school with a wonderful Erica who died too young, a long time ago. So it's got positive associations for me.
I like Heather too, probably better than Erica (because I've got no personal feelings about it) but not much.
Heather was probably a bit more popular at one time than Erica ever was, but not enough to affect people's views.
If you Google Erica South Africa you'll find some lovely pictures of our Erica flowers!
I like Heather too, probably better than Erica (because I've got no personal feelings about it) but not much.
Heather was probably a bit more popular at one time than Erica ever was, but not enough to affect people's views.
If you Google Erica South Africa you'll find some lovely pictures of our Erica flowers!
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Oooooh, pretty flowers!
Thanks for the heads up regarding South African Erica flowers! I wish this image was larger:
Thanks for the heads up regarding South African Erica flowers! I wish this image was larger:
This message was edited 10/12/2017, 1:22 PM
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I Google Imaged and found a couple of better ones:
This message was edited 10/12/2017, 1:49 PM
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In the U.S. Erica is pronounced ER-i-kə. Though the Italian pronunciation is kind of pretty, everyone here would have a hard time getting the pronunciation correct.
In the U.S. Erica has a rich white girl vibe. I always imagine someone very blonde with blue eyes. Probably partially because we had a neighbor named Erica for a few years who was blonde, blue eyed, wealthy, and dressed very preppy. She had a son named Ethan, when she got pregnant again they moved because the houses in our neighborhood were too small in their opinion. A lot of yuppies were living in our block at that time, we were their transition neighborhood, it was the early 2000's and houses were being bought and sold for around 600K.
Heather has more of a middle class vibe and it's a little more artsy. I don't imagine blonde girls only since I've met a large variety of Heather's. The Heather I know the best has bright orange ginger hair. Heather is a fairly dated name, I was born on the tail end of when Heather was really popular in the U.S.
Out of the two my favorite is Heather. I named one of my mid-sized beanie babies Heather, it makes me think of switch back trails, far below valleys, pink little mountain flowers, and it reminds me a little bit of Scotland. In WA heather grows on our mountains or at least the one I climbed had a bunch of heather.
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In the U.S. Erica has a rich white girl vibe. I always imagine someone very blonde with blue eyes. Probably partially because we had a neighbor named Erica for a few years who was blonde, blue eyed, wealthy, and dressed very preppy. She had a son named Ethan, when she got pregnant again they moved because the houses in our neighborhood were too small in their opinion. A lot of yuppies were living in our block at that time, we were their transition neighborhood, it was the early 2000's and houses were being bought and sold for around 600K.
Heather has more of a middle class vibe and it's a little more artsy. I don't imagine blonde girls only since I've met a large variety of Heather's. The Heather I know the best has bright orange ginger hair. Heather is a fairly dated name, I was born on the tail end of when Heather was really popular in the U.S.
Out of the two my favorite is Heather. I named one of my mid-sized beanie babies Heather, it makes me think of switch back trails, far below valleys, pink little mountain flowers, and it reminds me a little bit of Scotland. In WA heather grows on our mountains or at least the one I climbed had a bunch of heather.
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This message was edited 10/10/2017, 8:37 PM
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As an Erica who is nothing like the image you described, this is the first I've heard of Erica being a "preppy white girl" name! ("Rich," maybe, though that would mainly be due to the association with the "All My Children" character Erica Kane, who I was sort of named after. But "preppy" is a new one for me, lol!)
Maybe we just grew up in vastly different neighborhoods (there certainly weren't any houses around me being sold for more than 300K), but none of the Ericas / Erikas I new in school, or encountered as a child, were even white. A couple were black, but most were Hispanic. (I met my first white Erika in college, and a white Arica some years later.) As for me, I'm a short, dark-haired, pear-shaped Italian-American, and I've always been far more nerdy than "preppy" or "yuppie" (though I did go to a private liberal arts college in New England...).
Heather is the name that conjures images of blond women, for me, but that's mainly due to me associating the name with the actresses Heather Locklear and Heather Graham.
Maybe we just grew up in vastly different neighborhoods (there certainly weren't any houses around me being sold for more than 300K), but none of the Ericas / Erikas I new in school, or encountered as a child, were even white. A couple were black, but most were Hispanic. (I met my first white Erika in college, and a white Arica some years later.) As for me, I'm a short, dark-haired, pear-shaped Italian-American, and I've always been far more nerdy than "preppy" or "yuppie" (though I did go to a private liberal arts college in New England...).
Heather is the name that conjures images of blond women, for me, but that's mainly due to me associating the name with the actresses Heather Locklear and Heather Graham.
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The high school friend named Erica whom I mentioned in my post was preppy and, maybe not rich exactly, but came from a fairly affluent family. No surprise there, because everyone in my hometown was preppy and fairly affluent. But she actually also was blonde and blue-eyed lol.
I had a short, dark-haired, pear shaped friend whose name was Karen.
I had a short, dark-haired, pear shaped friend whose name was Karen.
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Accidental Repeat
I hope I didn't offend you. Saying that in the U.S. Erica has that vibe isn't correct, saying around where I grew up Erica is a preppy white girl name is more accurate.
I never had an Erica in my class and truthfully I only had one or two Heather's ever in my class and that was in college. I think there was a Heather two years older than me in high school. I've met a few Erica's and they all had blonde hair, blue eyes, and were around 10 to 15 years older than me which means they would have born in the 70's. The only Erica I've ever known was our neighbor, she was mostly nice but often looked down her nose at us when we would interact. Also my next door neighbor for many years was a man named Eric who also had blonde hair and blue eyes, he was the nicest guy ever and it was so sad when he died.
When my parent's bought their house 30 years ago the neighborhood wasn't a high income people.but it became a transition neighborhood for rich yuppie people although now it is purely a higher income neighborhood since homes sell on average around 800k. But all the most recent people in the neighborhood are not preppy yuppie types they are techie people with chickens in their backyard or who don't own a car. My parent's house that badly needs upkeep fits in better with our new neighbors who don't keep their houses immaculate looking.
I grew up in Seattle which is a mostly white city in a mostly white neighborhood, but I went to a middle school/ high school that was about equal in it's racial demographic for white, black, and asian. We had a higher than normal Native American student body as well, it was the only public school in the city that gave no or little preference to neighborhood enrollment and it had city wide busing. The school is sadly gone now because of a superintendent who hated alternative schools. Most of the students who went there chose it because of the school's focus on art or they had been bullied and were searching for a school that was accepting and friendly. It was a great place and it's too bad that it's gone. My school had a lot of students with less usual or rare names.
Sorry it's getting late and I am starting to ramble more and more.
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I hope I didn't offend you. Saying that in the U.S. Erica has that vibe isn't correct, saying around where I grew up Erica is a preppy white girl name is more accurate.
I never had an Erica in my class and truthfully I only had one or two Heather's ever in my class and that was in college. I think there was a Heather two years older than me in high school. I've met a few Erica's and they all had blonde hair, blue eyes, and were around 10 to 15 years older than me which means they would have born in the 70's. The only Erica I've ever known was our neighbor, she was mostly nice but often looked down her nose at us when we would interact. Also my next door neighbor for many years was a man named Eric who also had blonde hair and blue eyes, he was the nicest guy ever and it was so sad when he died.
When my parent's bought their house 30 years ago the neighborhood wasn't a high income people.but it became a transition neighborhood for rich yuppie people although now it is purely a higher income neighborhood since homes sell on average around 800k. But all the most recent people in the neighborhood are not preppy yuppie types they are techie people with chickens in their backyard or who don't own a car. My parent's house that badly needs upkeep fits in better with our new neighbors who don't keep their houses immaculate looking.
I grew up in Seattle which is a mostly white city in a mostly white neighborhood, but I went to a middle school/ high school that was about equal in it's racial demographic for white, black, and asian. We had a higher than normal Native American student body as well, it was the only public school in the city that gave no or little preference to neighborhood enrollment and it had city wide busing. The school is sadly gone now because of a superintendent who hated alternative schools. Most of the students who went there chose it because of the school's focus on art or they had been bullied and were searching for a school that was accepting and friendly. It was a great place and it's too bad that it's gone. My school had a lot of students with less usual or rare names.
Sorry it's getting late and I am starting to ramble more and more.
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This message was edited 10/13/2017, 4:49 AM
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I hope I didn't offend you. Saying that in the U.S. Erica has that vibe isn't correct, saying around where I grew up Erica is a preppy white girl name is more accurate.
I never had an Erica in my class and truthfully I only had one or two Heather's ever in my class and that was in college. I think there was a Heather two years older than me in high school. I've met a few Erica's and they all had blonde hair, blue eyes, and were around 10 to 15 years older than me which means they would have born in the 70's. The only Erica I've ever known well was our neighbor, she was mostly nice but often looked down her nose at us when we would interact. Also my next door neighbor for many years was a man named Eric who also had blonde hair and blue eyes, he was the nicest guy ever and it was so sad when he died.
When my parent's bought their house 30 years ago the neighborhood wasn't a high income people.but it became a transition neighborhood for rich yuppie people although now it is purely a higher income neighborhood since homes sell on average around 800k. But all the most recent people in the neighborhood are not preppy yuppie types they are techie people with chickens in their backyard or who don't own a car. My parent's house that badly needs upkeep fits in better with our new neighbors who don't keep their houses immaculate looking.
I grew up in Seattle which is a mostly white city in a mostly white neighborhood, but I went to a middle school/ high school that was about equal in it's racial demographic for white, black, and asian. We had a higher than normal Native American student body as well, it was the only public school in the city that gave no or little preference to neighborhood enrollment and it had city wide busing. The school is sadly gone now because of a superintendent who hated alternative schools. Most of the students who went there chose it because of the school's focus on art or they had been bullied and were searching for a school that was accepting and friendly. It was a great place and it's too bad that it's gone. My school had a lot of students with less usual or rare names.
Sorry it's getting late and I am starting to ramble more and more.
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I never had an Erica in my class and truthfully I only had one or two Heather's ever in my class and that was in college. I think there was a Heather two years older than me in high school. I've met a few Erica's and they all had blonde hair, blue eyes, and were around 10 to 15 years older than me which means they would have born in the 70's. The only Erica I've ever known well was our neighbor, she was mostly nice but often looked down her nose at us when we would interact. Also my next door neighbor for many years was a man named Eric who also had blonde hair and blue eyes, he was the nicest guy ever and it was so sad when he died.
When my parent's bought their house 30 years ago the neighborhood wasn't a high income people.but it became a transition neighborhood for rich yuppie people although now it is purely a higher income neighborhood since homes sell on average around 800k. But all the most recent people in the neighborhood are not preppy yuppie types they are techie people with chickens in their backyard or who don't own a car. My parent's house that badly needs upkeep fits in better with our new neighbors who don't keep their houses immaculate looking.
I grew up in Seattle which is a mostly white city in a mostly white neighborhood, but I went to a middle school/ high school that was about equal in it's racial demographic for white, black, and asian. We had a higher than normal Native American student body as well, it was the only public school in the city that gave no or little preference to neighborhood enrollment and it had city wide busing. The school is sadly gone now because of a superintendent who hated alternative schools. Most of the students who went there chose it because of the school's focus on art or they had been bullied and were searching for a school that was accepting and friendly. It was a great place and it's too bad that it's gone. My school had a lot of students with less usual or rare names.
Sorry it's getting late and I am starting to ramble more and more.
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This message was edited 10/13/2017, 1:28 PM
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Oh no, you didn't offend! I was just surprised at the image, because it was the opposite of what I'd grown up with.
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I like them both quite a bit. They are so dissimilar in sound, and Erica isn't a plant name in English, so they could even be siblings or part of a combo.
In the US, Erika or Erica is just a feminine form of Eric, which has nothing to do with plants of any kind.
Heather is definitely not in fashion anymore; it was very popular in the seventies and eighties and then fell off fast. But I still like it and I don't see it as a problem that it's not currently in style.
I think it's a draw as to which I like better; I like Heather's softer sound but not the th so much.
In the US, Erika or Erica is just a feminine form of Eric, which has nothing to do with plants of any kind.
Heather is definitely not in fashion anymore; it was very popular in the seventies and eighties and then fell off fast. But I still like it and I don't see it as a problem that it's not currently in style.
I think it's a draw as to which I like better; I like Heather's softer sound but not the th so much.
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I'm not overly fond of Erica, but I prefer it to Heather.
According to the statistics, Erica was fairly popular in the US from the 1970s through the 1990s. However, the only Erica I've ever known was a high school friend of mine, and she was born the same year I was, 1960. That was just as Erica was starting to rise, and it was only #662 that year. So her name was unusual for our age group. All this by way of saying that although Erica was popular, it doesn't have a dated vibe for me.
Heather, on the other hand, was massively popular in the US, more so than Erica, from the late 1960s through the 1990s, with its greatest popularity coming in the 1970s. It's the name of my niece, who was born in 1974. And I have known many women named Heather. Therefore, it has a very dated vibe to me.
And I've never liked Heather anyway and never understood its popularity. I think the TH sound in the middle is harsh, and I tend not to like names that begin with an H, with really only one exception when it comes to girls' names.
Erica makes me think of the word "earache" and that's why it's not a big favorite of mine, but I prefer it to Heather. I can see some appeal in Erica, none in Heather.
According to the statistics, Erica was fairly popular in the US from the 1970s through the 1990s. However, the only Erica I've ever known was a high school friend of mine, and she was born the same year I was, 1960. That was just as Erica was starting to rise, and it was only #662 that year. So her name was unusual for our age group. All this by way of saying that although Erica was popular, it doesn't have a dated vibe for me.
Heather, on the other hand, was massively popular in the US, more so than Erica, from the late 1960s through the 1990s, with its greatest popularity coming in the 1970s. It's the name of my niece, who was born in 1974. And I have known many women named Heather. Therefore, it has a very dated vibe to me.
And I've never liked Heather anyway and never understood its popularity. I think the TH sound in the middle is harsh, and I tend not to like names that begin with an H, with really only one exception when it comes to girls' names.
Erica makes me think of the word "earache" and that's why it's not a big favorite of mine, but I prefer it to Heather. I can see some appeal in Erica, none in Heather.
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