Akhenaton
One prominent in the horizon, the brilliant sun.
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Akhenaton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Akhenaton today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Akhenaton births was 1980 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Akhenaton. 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 Akhenaton. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1980
5 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
1995 SSA rank
#8,901
Tracked since 1980
Popularity
Akhenaton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Akhenaton from the 1980s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, 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
Akhenaton 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 Akhenaton 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 Akhenaton
The name Akhenaton has its origins in the ancient Egyptian language. It is believed to have been first used during the 18th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, which spanned from around 1550 BC to 1292 BC. The name is derived from the Egyptian words "akhen" meaning "effective" or "beneficial," and "aten" referring to the ancient Egyptian sun-god Aten.
Akhenaton was the name given to the Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, who ruled ancient Egypt from around 1353 BC to 1336 BC. He is renowned for his radical religious reforms, where he promoted the worship of the sun-god Aten over the traditional Egyptian pantheon of gods. Akhenaton's reign was marked by significant changes in art, architecture, and religious practices.
The earliest recorded use of the name Akhenaton is found in various ancient Egyptian texts, inscriptions, and monuments from the 18th Dynasty. It is prominently featured in the Amarna Letters, a collection of diplomatic correspondence from the reign of Akhenaton, as well as in the remains of the city of Akhetaten (modern-day Amarna), which he founded as a new capital dedicated to the worship of Aten.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Akhenaton. One of the most famous was Pharaoh Akhenaton himself, who was born around 1379 BC and ruled from 1353 BC to 1336 BC. Another historical figure with this name was Akhenaton Manu, an Indian philosopher and spiritual leader who lived in the 8th century BC and is credited with establishing the philosophical school of Samkhya.
In the 17th century, the German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) wrote extensively about Akhenaton's religious reforms and the worship of Aten. The French Egyptologist and archaeologist Auguste Mariette (1821-1881) is also known for his excavations and discoveries related to Akhenaton's reign and the city of Akhetaten.
More recently, the American Egyptologist and author Donald B. Redford (1934-2020) made significant contributions to the study of Akhenaton's life and reign through his extensive research and publications on the subject.
People
Akhenaton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Akhenaton 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
Akhenaton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Akhenaton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Akhenaton 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 Akhenaton a common name?
We classify Akhenaton 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 Akhenaton most popular?
The single biggest year for Akhenaton was 1980, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Akhenaton is about 37 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 Akhenaton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Akhenaton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Akhenaton 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 Akhenaton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Akhenaton 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 Akhenaton 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 Akhenaton as a first name?
See how many Americans are named Akhenaton on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.