Aristides
An ancient Greek name meaning "the excellent one" or "the best".
Name Census estimates that about 598 living Americans carry the first name Aristides. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Aristides today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aristides births was 1982 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aristides. 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 Aristides with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
598
~ 1 in 573,168 Americans
Peak year
1982
17 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,953
Tracked since 1917
Census
Aristides in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,771 people with the first name Aristides, which placed it at #8,229 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
#8,229
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,771 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
78.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aristides
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aristides is Hispanic at 78.7%. The next largest groups are White (17.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.6%). 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 Aristides 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 Aristides at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino78.7% · 1,393
- White17.6% · 311
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 28
- Black or African American1.4% · 25
- Two or more races0.6% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
Popularity
Aristides: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aristides from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 113 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Aristides remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aristides 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 Aristides during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aristides' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Aristides
The name Aristides has its origins in ancient Greek culture. It is derived from the Greek word "aristos," meaning "best" or "most excellent," and "idēs," a suffix indicating a masculine proper noun. The name can be interpreted as "most excellent" or "of the noblest kind."
The earliest known reference to the name is found in the works of ancient Greek historians and philosophers, who mentioned Aristides, an Athenian statesman and military leader from the 5th century BC. Aristides was renowned for his integrity, earning him the epithet "the Just" (ho Dikaios). He played a crucial role in the Greek victory over the Persians during the Greco-Persian Wars.
Another notable historical figure bearing the name Aristides was Aelius Aristides, a Greek orator, philosopher, and author who lived in the 2nd century AD. He is best known for his preserved works, including the "Sacred Tales" and "Orations," which provide valuable insights into the cultural and religious practices of his time.
In the realm of literature, Aristides is a character in the play "The Clouds" by the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. The play satirizes the philosopher Socrates and his teachings, with Aristides representing a traditional Athenian youth.
One of the earliest known individuals named Aristides was Aristides of Miletus, a Greek historian and geographer who lived in the 5th century BC. His work "Milesiaca" is now lost, but it was highly regarded by ancient scholars for its historical accounts.
Another notable figure was Aristides Quintilianus, a Greek writer and music theorist who lived in the 3rd century AD. He is known for his influential treatise "On Music," which provides valuable information about ancient Greek music theory and performance practices.
Throughout history, several other individuals have borne the name Aristides, including Byzantine emperors, scholars, and artists. However, many details about their lives and contributions have been lost to time.
People
Aristides + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aristides 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
Aristides: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aristides?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 598 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aristides 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 573,168 US residents.
Is Aristides a common name?
We classify Aristides as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 702 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aristides most popular?
The single biggest year for Aristides was 1982, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aristides is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aristides in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,771 people with the name Aristides, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,229 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 Aristides 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 Aristides?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aristides leans strongly male. 1,749 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 25 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Aristides?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aristides is Hispanic at 78.7%. The next largest groups are White (17.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.6%). 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 Aristides most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Aristides in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.7% (1,393 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 Aristides in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aristides a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aristides 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 Aristides still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aristides 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 Aristides 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 share the name Aristides?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.