Aiden
A Celtic name meaning "little fiery one" or "born of fire".
Roughly 252,513 people in the United States go by the first name Aiden, which ranks #47 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Aiden today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aiden births was 2009 (16,142 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Todd (251,349).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aiden. 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 Aiden with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Aiden is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,120 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Aiden is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
253K
~ 1 in 1,357 Americans
Peak year
2009
16,142 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#47
Tracked since 1970
Census
Aiden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 193,515 people with the first name Aiden, which placed it at #287 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
#287
National first-name rank
People counted
194K
193,515 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
64.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aiden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aiden is White at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.2%) and Black (9.1%). 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 Aiden 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 Aiden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.8% · 107,940
- Hispanic or Latino22.2% · 42,917
- Black or African American9.1% · 17,704
- Two or more races6.8% · 13,206
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 10,192
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 1,556
Gender
Gender distribution for Aiden
Out of the 254,749 babies given the name Aiden since 1880, 99.2% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Aiden as a male name
- Ranked #47 in 2024
- 6,243 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (16,029 births)
Aiden as a female name
- Ranked #5,137 in 2024
- 25 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (176 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aiden leans strongly male. 191,460 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 2,066 female bearers (1.1%).
Popularity
Aiden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aiden from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 130,295 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aiden 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 Aiden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aidens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Aiden, while Wyoming, Vermont, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 4,958 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aiden
The name Aiden has its origins in the Gaelic language and Celtic culture, stemming from the Irish name Áedán or the Scottish Gaelic Àidhean. It is derived from the Celtic word "aed" or "aidh," meaning "fire" or "fiery one." The name was popular in ancient Ireland and Scotland during the medieval period.
Aiden traces its roots back to the 7th century, when it was borne by several prominent figures in Irish history, including the Irish saint Áedán of Ferns, who lived around 632 AD. Another notable bearer of the name was Áedán mac Gabráin, the King of Dál Riata, a medieval kingdom in modern-day Scotland and Ireland, who reigned in the late 6th and early 7th centuries.
In the 9th century, the name appears in the ancient Irish text the Annals of Ulster, where it is recorded as a personal name. It was also found in the Irish Mythological Cycle of stories, where it was the name of one of the legendary Irish warriors known as the Fianna.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Aiden enjoyed popularity among the Irish and Scottish noble classes. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name is Áedán mac Fergusa, the King of Dál Riata, who ruled in the late 6th century.
Over the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the name Aiden. These include:
1. Aidan of Lindisfarne (c. 590-651), an Irish monk and missionary credited with bringing Christianity to Northumbria, England.
2. Áedán mac Gabráin (c. 560-609), the King of Dál Riata, who fought against the Angles of Northumbria.
3. Aidan of Ferns (c. 550-626), an Irish saint and the founder of the monastery at Ferns, County Wexford, Ireland.
4. Aidan Cullen (1629-1669), an Irish Jesuit theologian and philosopher.
5. Aidan Higgins (1927-2015), an Irish novelist and short story writer.
The name Aiden experienced a resurgence in popularity in the late 20th century, particularly in the United States, where it became a trendy choice for baby names.
People
Aiden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aiden 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
Aiden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aiden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 252,513 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aiden 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 1,357 US residents.
Is Aiden a common name?
We classify Aiden as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 254,749 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aiden most popular?
The single biggest year for Aiden was 2009, when 16,142 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aiden is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aiden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 193,515 people with the name Aiden, or 64.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #287 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 Aiden 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 Aiden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aiden leans strongly male. 191,460 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 2,066 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Aiden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aiden is White at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.2%) and Black (9.1%). 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 Aiden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aiden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.8% (107,940 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 Aiden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aiden a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Aiden 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 Aiden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aiden 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 Aiden 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 are called Aiden?
You can see how many people share the name Aiden on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.