Aken
Of unknown origin and meaning, possibly derived from Dutch or German.
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Aken. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Aken today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aken births was 2009 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aken. 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 Aken. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
2009
5 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2016 SSA rank
#12,253
Tracked since 2009
Popularity
Aken: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aken from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5 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
Aken 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 Aken 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 Aken
The name Aken is believed to have originated from the ancient Egyptian language, where it was derived from the word "aken," meaning "eternal." This name was commonly used during the dynastic periods of ancient Egyptian civilization, which spanned from around 3100 BC to 30 BC.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Aken can be found in the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, a collection of funerary texts dating back to the 16th century BC. In this text, the name is mentioned in connection with the concept of eternal life and the afterlife.
During the reign of the 18th Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled from approximately 1351 BC to 1334 BC, the name Aken gained particular prominence. Akhenaten was a revolutionary figure who attempted to establish a monotheistic religion centered around the worship of the sun god Aten. It is believed that his name, which was originally Amenhotep, was changed to Akhenaten to reflect his devotion to the Aten.
In ancient Greek mythology, there is a figure named Acamas, a hero from the Trojan War, whose name bears similarity to Aken. Acamas was the son of Antenor and Theano, and he fought alongside the Trojans against the Greeks.
Another notable historical figure with a name similar to Aken was Achaeus, a 3rd-century BC Greek sculptor from Eretria. He was renowned for his skill in creating works that depicted the human form with great realism and emotion.
Moving forward in time, there was Acan, a 6th-century bishop of Antioch who played a significant role in the early Christian church. He is known for his efforts to combat the spread of Monophysitism, a Christological doctrine that held that Christ had only one nature.
In more recent history, one of the most famous individuals with the name Aken was Aken Khiyo, a 19th-century Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary. He was born in 1856 and played a crucial role in the Indian rebellion against British colonial rule in 1857.
Finally, Aken Uzun was a Turkish poet and writer who lived from 1914 to 1976. He was a prominent figure in the literary circles of Turkey and is renowned for his contributions to the modernist movement in Turkish poetry.
People
Aken + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aken 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
Aken: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aken?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aken 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Aken a common name?
We classify Aken as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aken most popular?
The single biggest year for Aken was 2009, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aken is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Aken in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aken a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aken 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 Aken still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aken 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 Aken 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Aken?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Aken, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.