The term was originally &quot;Vulgar Era&quot; (meaning &quot;the one that the people use&quot;, as opposed to the aristocracy which dated from the reign of various kings).<p>Jewish academics started using &quot;Common Era&quot; to mean the same thing as &quot;Vulgar Era&quot; in the mid 19th century.<p>&quot;Christian Era&quot; has never been used academically. It presumably came about due to people guessing at the &quot;CE&quot; in academic texts&quot;. It&#x27;s not wrong though, so there&#x27;s no problem. Also, unlike &quot;Year of our Lord&quot;, it doesn&#x27;t align the author with Christianity; it is merely factual.