Airin
A feminine Japanese name meaning "lover of jasmine flowers".
Name Census estimates that about 35 living Americans carry the first name Airin. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Airin today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Airin births was 1997 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Airin. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Airin. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
35
~ 1 in 9,792,981 Americans
Peak year
1997
6 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2014 SSA rank
#12,173
Tracked since 1982
Census
Airin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 250 people with the first name Airin, which placed it at #33,212 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
#33,212
National first-name rank
People counted
250
250 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
31.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Airin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Airin is White at 31.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.6%) and Hispanic (23.6%). 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 Airin 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 Airin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White31.2% · 78
- Asian and Pacific Islander27.6% · 69
- Hispanic or Latino23.6% · 59
- Black or African American12.4% · 31
- Two or more races3.6% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Airin
Airin leans heavily female at 86.1% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Airin as a male name
- Ranked #12,173 in 2014
- 5 male births in 2014
- Peak: 2014 (5 births)
Airin as a female name
- Ranked #16,963 in 2012
- 5 female births in 2012
- Peak: 1997 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Airin on both sides of the split. Of the 241 people counted with this name, 50 were male (20.7%) and 191 were female (79.3%).
Popularity
Airin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Airin from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 11 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Airin 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 Airin 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 Airin
The name Airin is believed to have originated from the Celtic cultures of ancient Britain and Ireland. It is derived from the old Irish Gaelic word "aer," meaning air or atmosphere, combined with the suffix "-in," which indicates a diminutive form. The name Airin was likely given to children as a way to wish them a life filled with the freshness and vitality of the open air.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Airin can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history dating back to the 15th century. The text mentions an Airin mac Muiredaig, who was a chieftain of the Uí Fiachrach Aidne clan in the 11th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals bearing the name Airin. Airin of Clonard (c. 550 - c. 625) was an Irish monk and disciple of St. Finian of Clonard, who played a significant role in the early spread of Christianity in Ireland.
Another historical figure was Airin mac Colmáin (c. 670 - 720), a King of Leinster in Ireland during the 7th and 8th centuries. He is mentioned in the Bórama, an ancient Irish poem that recounts the hostilities between the kings of Leinster and the High Kings of Ireland.
In the 9th century, Airin mac Máele Brigte (c. 810 - c. 875) was an Irish scribe and scholar who is credited with producing several important manuscripts, including the Book of Armagh, a 9th-century literary work containing some of the earliest surviving accounts of St. Patrick's life.
Moving to more recent times, Airin Bru (1907 - 1989) was a Welsh artist and painter known for his landscapes and seascapes depicting the rugged beauty of the Welsh countryside.
Lastly, Airin Armstrong (1924 - 2012) was a Scottish musician and composer who made significant contributions to the revival of traditional Scottish folk music in the 20th century.
People
Airin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Airin 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
Airin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Airin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 35 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Airin 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 9,792,981 US residents.
Is Airin a common name?
We classify Airin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 48.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 36 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Airin most popular?
The single biggest year for Airin was 1997, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Airin is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Airin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 250 people with the name Airin, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,212 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 Airin 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 Airin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Airin on both sides of the split. Of the 241 people counted with this name, 50 were male (20.7%) and 191 were female (79.3%). 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 Airin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Airin is White at 31.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.6%) and Hispanic (23.6%). 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 Airin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Airin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 31.2% (78 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 Airin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Airin a female name?
Yes, 86.1% of people registered as Airin in the SSA data are female. 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 Airin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Airin 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 Airin 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 Airin as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Airin on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.