Aaren
A Celtic-origin name potentially meaning "high" or "virtuous one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,164 living Americans carry the first name Aaren. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Aaren today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aaren births was 2003 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aaren. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Aaren with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 294,462 Americans
Peak year
2003
44 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,893
Tracked since 1971
Census
Aaren in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,022 people with the first name Aaren, which placed it at #12,238 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#12,238
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,022 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aaren
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aaren is White at 51.6%. The next largest groups are Black (21.4%) and Hispanic (13.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Aaren described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Aaren at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.6% · 527
- Black or African American21.4% · 219
- Hispanic or Latino13.4% · 137
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.9% · 81
- Two or more races4.9% · 50
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Aaren
Aaren is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,194 total registrations, 912 (76.4%) were male and 282 (23.6%) were female.
Aaren as a male name
- Ranked #10,893 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (36 births)
Aaren as a female name
- Ranked #17,001 in 2010
- 5 female births in 2010
- Peak: 1990 (23 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Aaren on both sides of the split. Of the 1,027 people counted with this name, 714 were male (69.5%) and 313 were female (30.5%).
Popularity
Aaren: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aaren from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 345 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aaren by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Aaren during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aarens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Aaren, while Texas, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aaren
The name Aaren is a modern variant of the Hebrew name Aaron, which has its origins in ancient biblical times. The name Aaron is derived from the Hebrew word "har" meaning "mountain" or "hill," and "on" meaning "strong" or "exalted." Thus, the name Aaren can be interpreted as "high mountain" or "exalted one."
One of the earliest and most notable bearers of the name Aaron was the biblical figure Aaron, the brother of Moses and the first High Priest of the Israelites. Aaron is mentioned extensively in the Old Testament, including the Book of Exodus, where he played a pivotal role in leading the Israelites out of Egypt and establishing the priestly tradition.
Throughout history, the name Aaron has been borne by various individuals of significance. One notable example is Aaron ben Samuel, a 12th-century Jewish philosopher and theologian from Baghdad, who was renowned for his contributions to the field of Jewish philosophy and his commentary on the Torah.
In the early Christian era, the name Aaron was also adopted by some Christians, particularly in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. One prominent figure was Saint Aaron, a 4th-century monk and ascetic who lived in the Scetis desert of Egypt and was known for his piety and spiritual wisdom.
Moving forward in time, the name Aaron gained popularity in various cultures and regions. In the 16th century, Aaron Burr, an American Revolutionary War hero and the third Vice President of the United States, was born in 1756. Another notable bearer of the name was Aaron Copland, the influential American composer, born in 1900, who is known for his contributions to American classical music and his iconic works such as "Appalachian Spring" and "Rodeo."
The variant spelling Aaren emerged as a modern adaptation of the traditional name Aaron. While less common than the original spelling, it has gained some popularity in recent decades, particularly in English-speaking countries. Some notable individuals with the name Aaren include Aaren Russell, an Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League, and Aaren Edmondson, a Canadian actress known for her roles in television series like "The L Word" and "Supernatural."
People
Aaren + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aaren as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Aaren: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aaren?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,164 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aaren going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 294,462 US residents.
Is Aaren a common name?
We classify Aaren as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,194 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aaren most popular?
The single biggest year for Aaren was 2003, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aaren is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aaren in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,022 people with the name Aaren, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,238 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Aaren in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Aaren?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Aaren on both sides of the split. Of the 1,027 people counted with this name, 714 were male (69.5%) and 313 were female (30.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Aaren?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aaren is White at 51.6%. The next largest groups are Black (21.4%) and Hispanic (13.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Aaren most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aaren in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.6% (527 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Aaren in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aaren a male name?
Yes, 76.4% of people registered as Aaren in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Aaren still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aaren in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Aaren can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Aaren?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Aaren, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.