Ashon
A masculine Arabic given name meaning "most beautiful or handsome one".
Name Census estimates that about 363 living Americans carry the first name Ashon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ashon today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ashon births was 2003 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ashon. 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 Ashon with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
363
~ 1 in 944,227 Americans
Peak year
2003
21 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,972
Tracked since 1975
Census
Ashon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 319 people with the first name Ashon, which placed it at #28,252 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
#28,252
National first-name rank
People counted
319
319 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
69.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ashon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashon is Black at 69.3%. The next largest groups are White (11.3%) and Two or More Races (10.7%). 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 Ashon 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 Ashon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American69.3% · 221
- White11.3% · 36
- Two or more races10.7% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 3
Popularity
Ashon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ashon from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 126 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Ashon remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ashon 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 Ashon 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 Ashon
The name Ashon is believed to have its origins in ancient Hebrew, derived from the root word "asah," which means "to make" or "to create." This suggests that the name may have been associated with craftsmanship, creativity, or perhaps even a reference to the divine act of creation.
In the context of the Hebrew culture, the name Ashon could be interpreted as a symbolic representation of human creativity and the ability to shape the world around them. It may have been bestowed upon individuals who were skilled artisans, builders, or those who possessed a talent for creating works of art or functional objects.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Ashon can be traced back to the ancient texts of the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. One notable figure bearing this name was Ashon, the son of Shemidah, who is mentioned in the Book of Numbers as a leader among the tribe of Simeon during the Israelites' wanderings in the wilderness.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who carried the name Ashon. One such figure was Ashon ben David (c. 1120 - 1200 CE), a renowned Jewish philosopher and scholar from Provence, France, who made significant contributions to the study of Jewish law and ethics.
Another prominent bearer of the name was Ashon ibn Ezra (c. 1092 - 1167 CE), a famous Jewish philosopher, poet, and biblical commentator from Spain. His works, including his commentaries on the Torah and poetic compositions, had a profound influence on Jewish thought and literature during the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain.
In the realm of literature, Ashon Mordecai (1699 - 1781) was a Polish-born Hebrew writer and poet who lived in Amsterdam. He is best known for his satirical works that critiqued social and religious norms of his time, contributing to the development of modern Hebrew literature.
Another notable figure was Ashon ben Isaac ha-Levi (c. 1235 - 1300 CE), a Jewish philosopher and scholar from Spain who wrote extensively on topics ranging from mathematics and astronomy to theology and metaphysics. His works, such as the "Sefer ha-Nefesh" (Book of the Soul), were highly influential in their time.
Lastly, Ashon ben Joseph (c. 1260 - 1328 CE), also known as Ashon the Righteous, was a prominent Jewish scholar and mystic from Spain. He is remembered for his contributions to the study of Kabbalah, the mystical teachings of Judaism, and his influential work, the "Sefer ha-Peliah" (Book of Wonder).
People
Ashon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ashon 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
Ashon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ashon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 363 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ashon 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 944,227 US residents.
Is Ashon a common name?
We classify Ashon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 370 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ashon most popular?
The single biggest year for Ashon was 2003, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ashon is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ashon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 319 people with the name Ashon, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,252 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 Ashon 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 Ashon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ashon leans strongly male. 306 people counted with this name were male (94.7%), compared with 17 female bearers (5.3%). 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 Ashon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ashon is Black at 69.3%. The next largest groups are White (11.3%) and Two or More Races (10.7%). 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 Ashon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ashon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.3% (221 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 Ashon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ashon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ashon 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 Ashon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ashon 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 Ashon 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 are called Ashon?
You can see how many people share the name Ashon on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.