Aryan
A predominantly masculine name of Sanskrit origin meaning "noble" or "honorable".
Name Census estimates that about 8,488 living Americans carry the first name Aryan. It is a predominantly male name (91.3% of registrations). The average person named Aryan today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aryan births was 2007 (433 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aryan. 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
- • Aryan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
8.5K
~ 1 in 40,381 Americans
Peak year
2007
433 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#782
Tracked since 1978
Gender
Gender distribution for Aryan
Aryan leans heavily male at 91.3% of total registrations, but 743 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Aryan as a male name
- Ranked #782 in 2024
- 320 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (406 births)
Aryan as a female name
- Ranked #9,599 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (36 births)
Popularity
Aryan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aryan from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,626 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aryan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aryan 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 Aryan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aryans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Aryan, while Oregon, Nevada, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 209 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aryan
The name Aryan is derived from the Sanskrit word "arya," which means "noble" or "honorable." It originated in ancient India, where it was used to refer to the Indo-Iranian people who spoke the Aryan languages.
The earliest recorded use of the name Aryan can be found in the Vedas, the ancient Hindu scriptures that date back to around 1500-500 BCE. In these texts, the term "arya" was used to describe the people who followed the Vedic religion and culture.
In the Avestan language of ancient Persia, the equivalent term "airya" was used to refer to the Iranian people. This term can be found in the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, which were composed around 600-400 BCE.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Aryan was Aryan, a Persian king who ruled the Median Empire in the 7th century BCE. He is mentioned in the Behistun Inscription, a multi-lingual inscription carved on a rock face in modern-day Iran.
In ancient Greek sources, the term "Arianoi" was used to refer to the people living in the region of modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. This term was derived from the Aryan language spoken by these people.
Another notable historical figure with the name Aryan was Aryan, a Persian philosopher who lived in the 6th century CE. He is known for his work on logic and philosophy, and his writings had a significant influence on Islamic thought.
In the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, there is a character named Aryan who is a king of the Kuru dynasty. This epic is believed to have been composed between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE.
Aryan was also the name of a Persian prince who lived in the 5th century BCE. He is mentioned in the ancient Greek historian Herodotus' work "The Histories."
During the medieval period, the name Aryan was used by various Persian and Indian rulers and nobles. One notable example is Aryan, a Persian prince who lived in the 11th century CE and was a member of the Ghaznavid dynasty.
People
Aryan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aryan 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
Aryan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aryan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,488 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aryan 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 40,381 US residents.
Is Aryan a common name?
We classify Aryan as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,574 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aryan most popular?
The single biggest year for Aryan was 2007, when 433 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aryan is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Aryan a male name?
Yes, 91.3% of people registered as Aryan 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.
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.