Aeneas
Of Greek origin, meaning "praise" or "praised".
Name Census estimates that about 458 living Americans carry the first name Aeneas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Aeneas today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aeneas births was 2002 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aeneas. 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 Aeneas with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
458
~ 1 in 748,372 Americans
Peak year
2002
38 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,650
Tracked since 1995
Census
Aeneas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 364 people with the first name Aeneas, which placed it at #25,851 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
#25,851
National first-name rank
People counted
364
364 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
37.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aeneas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aeneas is Black at 37.6%. The next largest groups are White (23.9%) and Hispanic (21.2%). 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 Aeneas 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 Aeneas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American37.6% · 137
- White23.9% · 87
- Hispanic or Latino21.2% · 77
- Two or more races10.2% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.7% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 9
Popularity
Aeneas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aeneas from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 215 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Aeneas remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aeneas 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 Aeneas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aeneas' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Florida, Texas recorded the most babies named Aeneas, while Texas, Florida, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aeneas
The name Aeneas has its origins in Greek mythology and literature. It is derived from the Greek word "ainos," meaning "praise" or "laudable." The name was borne by the legendary Trojan hero Aeneas, who was the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite.
In Virgil's epic poem the Aeneid, written in the 1st century BC, Aeneas is portrayed as a courageous and pious leader who escapes from the fallen city of Troy and journeys to Italy, where he becomes an ancestor of the Roman people. The Aeneid was a foundational text in Roman culture and helped establish Aeneas as a significant figure in ancient literature.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Aeneas date back to ancient Greece and Rome, where it was given to individuals in honor of the mythological hero. One notable bearer was Aeneas Tacticus, a Greek military writer who lived in the 4th century BC and authored a treatise on military tactics.
Throughout history, several prominent individuals have borne the name Aeneas. One example is Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1405-1464), an Italian Renaissance humanist who later became Pope Pius II. Another is Aeneas Mackay (1839-1914), a Scottish-born American naval officer who played a significant role in the American Civil War.
In the realm of literature, Aeneas is the central character in Virgil's Aeneid, which follows his journey from Troy to Italy and the foundation of what would become the Roman Empire. The name has also been used in various literary works, including John Dryden's heroic play "The State of Innocence and Fall of Man" (1677), where Aeneas is a prominent character.
Aeneas has been a significant name in Western culture, particularly in literature and mythology, representing themes of courage, duty, and the founding of civilizations. Its enduring legacy can be traced back to ancient Greek and Roman sources, where it was first associated with the legendary Trojan hero.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Aeneas
People
Aeneas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aeneas 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
Aeneas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aeneas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 458 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aeneas 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 748,372 US residents.
Is Aeneas a common name?
We classify Aeneas as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 463 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aeneas most popular?
The single biggest year for Aeneas was 2002, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aeneas is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aeneas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 364 people with the name Aeneas, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,851 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 Aeneas 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 Aeneas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aeneas leans strongly male. 356 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 9 female bearers (2.5%). 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 Aeneas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aeneas is Black at 37.6%. The next largest groups are White (23.9%) and Hispanic (21.2%). 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 Aeneas most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Aeneas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.6% (137 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 Aeneas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aeneas a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aeneas 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 Aeneas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aeneas 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 Aeneas 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 Aeneas as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Aeneas, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.