Aedon
Bearing a Greek origin, meaning "nightingale" or "little nightingale".
Name Census estimates that about 144 living Americans carry the first name Aedon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Aedon today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aedon births was 2006 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aedon. 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.
People living today
144
~ 1 in 2,380,238 Americans
Peak year
2006
22 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2018 SSA rank
#10,796
Tracked since 2002
Census
Aedon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 173 people with the first name Aedon, which placed it at #41,949 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
#41,949
National first-name rank
People counted
173
173 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aedon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aedon is White at 58.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (15.6%) and Hispanic (13.3%). 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 Aedon 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 Aedon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.4% · 101
- Two or more races15.6% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino13.3% · 23
- Black or African American10.4% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 2
Popularity
Aedon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aedon from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 91 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Aedon remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aedon 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 Aedon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aedon
The name Aedon has its origins in Greek mythology and literature, with the earliest known reference dating back to ancient Greek texts and poetry from the 8th century BCE. In Greek mythology, Aedon was the name of a woman who was transformed into a nightingale after killing her son Itys in a fit of jealousy. The name is derived from the Greek word "aedein," which means "to sing" or "to lament," reflecting the mournful call of the nightingale bird.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Aedon can be found in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," a famous Roman epic from the 1st century CE. In this work, Ovid retells the tragic story of Aedon and her transformation into a nightingale. The name also appears in various ancient Greek tragedies and poems, further solidifying its association with the mythological figure.
Throughout history, the name Aedon has been bestowed upon a handful of notable individuals. One such person was Aedon of Tenos, a Greek poetess from the 5th century BCE who is mentioned in Plato's dialogues. Another notable bearer of the name was Aedon of Pella, a Greek philosopher and logician who lived in the 4th century BCE and was a student of Aristotle.
In the realm of literature, the name Aedon has been used by various authors and poets. In the 19th century, the English poet Robert Browning wrote a poem titled "Aedon" in which he explores the mythological tale of Aedon's tragic transformation. Additionally, the American novelist John Steinbeck used the name Aedon for a character in his novel "The Pearl," published in 1947.
Other notable individuals with the name Aedon include Aedon Blynn, an American soprano who performed in the early 20th century, and Aedon Kron, a Canadian painter and sculptor who was active in the latter half of the 20th century. The name has also been used in various works of fiction, further perpetuating its mythological and literary associations.
While the name Aedon is not as commonly used today as it was in ancient times, its rich historical and mythological roots continue to captivate those with an appreciation for literature, poetry, and Greek mythology.
People
Aedon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aedon 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
Aedon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aedon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 144 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aedon 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 2,380,238 US residents.
Is Aedon a common name?
We classify Aedon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 145 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aedon most popular?
The single biggest year for Aedon was 2006, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aedon is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aedon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 173 people with the name Aedon, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,949 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 Aedon 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 Aedon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aedon leans strongly male. 158 people counted with this name were male (94.0%), compared with 10 female bearers (6.0%). 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 Aedon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aedon is White at 58.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (15.6%) and Hispanic (13.3%). 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 Aedon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aedon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.4% (101 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 Aedon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aedon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aedon 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 Aedon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aedon 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 Aedon 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 share the name Aedon?
Want to know how many people share the name Aedon? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.