Aristotle
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "the best purpose".
Name Census estimates that about 939 living Americans carry the first name Aristotle. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Aristotle today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aristotle births was 2001 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aristotle. 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 Aristotle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
939
~ 1 in 365,021 Americans
Peak year
2001
31 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,187
Tracked since 1925
Census
Aristotle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,118 people with the first name Aristotle, which placed it at #11,449 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
#11,449
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,118 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
37.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aristotle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aristotle is White at 37.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.1%) and Black (13.4%). 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 Aristotle 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 Aristotle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White37.4% · 418
- Asian and Pacific Islander31.1% · 348
- Black or African American13.4% · 150
- Hispanic or Latino11.3% · 126
- Two or more races6.5% · 73
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
Popularity
Aristotle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aristotle from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 256 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aristotle remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aristotle 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 Aristotle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aristotles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Aristotle
The name Aristotle is of Greek origin, derived from the ancient Greek words "aristos," meaning "best," and "telos," meaning "end" or "purpose." It was a name given to the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322 BC and is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the history of Western civilization.
Aristotle was born in the city of Stagira in ancient Greece and was a student of Plato at the famous Academy in Athens. He later became a tutor to Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king who conquered much of the known world at the time. Aristotle's works cover a wide range of subjects, including logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and natural sciences.
The earliest recorded example of the name Aristotle is, of course, the philosopher himself. After him, the name became popular among Greek scholars and intellectuals who admired his teachings and legacy. One notable figure who bore the name was Aristotle of Cyrene, a Greek mathematician and geographer who lived in the 4th century BC.
In the Middle Ages, the name Aristotle became associated with the rediscovery and study of his works in the Islamic world and later in Europe. Ibn Rushd, also known as Averroes (1126-1198), was an Islamic philosopher and commentator on Aristotle's works, contributing significantly to the spread of Aristotelian thought in the medieval era.
During the Renaissance, the name Aristotle saw a resurgence in popularity among humanist scholars and thinkers who revived the study of classical Greek and Roman texts. One such figure was Aristotle Fioravanti (1415-1486), an Italian architect and engineer who designed several notable buildings in Bologna and Rome.
In more recent times, the name Aristotle has been used sparingly but still carries a sense of intellectual and philosophical significance. Aristotle Onassis (1906-1975) was a Greek shipping magnate and businessman who became one of the wealthest and most famous men in the world during his lifetime.
Another notable bearer of the name was Aristotle Socrates Onassis (1904-1975), a Greek-Argentine businessman and shipping magnate who was the nephew of the aforementioned Aristotle Onassis. He was known for his successful business ventures and his marriage to the former First Lady of the United States, Jacqueline Kennedy.
People
Aristotle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aristotle 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
Aristotle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aristotle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 939 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aristotle 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 365,021 US residents.
Is Aristotle a common name?
We classify Aristotle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 999 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aristotle most popular?
The single biggest year for Aristotle was 2001, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aristotle is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aristotle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,118 people with the name Aristotle, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,449 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 Aristotle 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 Aristotle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aristotle leans strongly male. 1,112 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 14 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Aristotle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aristotle is White at 37.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.1%) and Black (13.4%). 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 Aristotle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aristotle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.4% (418 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 Aristotle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aristotle a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aristotle 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 Aristotle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aristotle 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 Aristotle 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 Americans are named Aristotle?
You can see how many people share the name Aristotle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.