Aj
A unisex Indian name of Sanskrit origin meaning "indefatigable" or "unconquerable".
Name Census estimates that about 2,375 living Americans carry the first name Aj. It is a predominantly male name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Aj today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aj births was 2012 (92 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aj. 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 Aj with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 144,318 Americans
Peak year
2012
92 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,334
Tracked since 1961
Census
Aj in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,317 people with the first name Aj, which placed it at #2,411 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
#2,411
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,317 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aj
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aj is White at 49.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.4%) and Black (16.1%). 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 Aj 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 Aj at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.7% · 5,127
- Hispanic or Latino18.4% · 1,903
- Black or African American16.1% · 1,656
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.8% · 908
- Two or more races5.9% · 604
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 119
Gender
Gender distribution for Aj
Aj leans heavily male at 98.2% of total registrations, but 43 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Aj as a male name
- Ranked #2,334 in 2024
- 60 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (86 births)
Aj as a female name
- Ranked #8,419 in 2020
- 12 female births in 2020
- Peak: 2020 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aj leans strongly male. 9,276 people counted with this name were male (90.0%), compared with 1,034 female bearers (10.0%).
Popularity
Aj: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aj from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 766 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aj remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aj 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 Aj during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ajs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Aj, while Utah, Oregon, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 62 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aj
The given name Aj has its origins in ancient South Asia, with the earliest documented references dating back to the 5th century BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "Aja," which translates to "unborn" or "eternal." This name carries deep spiritual and philosophical connotations in Hindu and Buddhist traditions.
Aj is believed to have been used as a honorific title or epithet for deities and revered figures in ancient Sanskrit texts, such as the Upanishads and the Puranas. One of the earliest known individuals to bear this name was Aj, a renowned sage and philosopher who lived during the Vedic period in India.
In the epic poem Mahabharata, composed between the 8th and 9th centuries BCE, there is a character named Aj who was a skilled archer and a warrior in the Kuru clan. His name is mentioned in the context of the great battle of Kurukshetra, where he fought alongside the Pandava princes.
During the Gupta Empire, which ruled over much of the Indian subcontinent from the 4th to the 6th century CE, there was a notable ruler named Aj. He was a powerful king known for his patronage of the arts, literature, and architecture, and his reign was marked by cultural and economic prosperity.
In the realm of religion and spirituality, Aj was the name of a revered Buddhist monk who lived in the 7th century CE. He was a influential figure in the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism and is credited with establishing several monasteries and temples in the Himalayan region.
Another prominent individual named Aj was a renowned poet and scholar who lived during the 11th century CE in the Kashmir region. His works, which included poetry and treatises on philosophy and aesthetics, were widely celebrated and have had a lasting impact on Indian literature and intellectual discourse.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Aj, which has a rich and long-standing cultural significance, particularly in the Indian subcontinent and in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Aj
People
Aj + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aj 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
Aj: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aj?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,375 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aj 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 144,318 US residents.
Is Aj a common name?
We classify Aj as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,419 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aj most popular?
The single biggest year for Aj was 2012, when 92 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aj is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aj in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,317 people with the name Aj, or 3.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,411 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 Aj 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 Aj?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aj leans strongly male. 9,276 people counted with this name were male (90.0%), compared with 1,034 female bearers (10.0%). 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 Aj?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aj is White at 49.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.4%) and Black (16.1%). 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 Aj most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aj in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.7% (5,127 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 Aj in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aj a male name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Aj 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 Aj still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aj 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 Aj 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 named Aj?
You can see how many people share the name Aj on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.