Head to head · Boys' names
Aidan vs Ali
#326 vs #306 in 2025
Ali is a whisker ahead (#306 vs #326 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Ali is holding its place on the charts, Aidan is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Ali leads 4 measures of 6; Aidan leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Aidan —, Ali #3264 — Ali higher
- 1920s: Aidan —, Ali #3924 — Ali higher
- 1930s: Aidan #3549, Ali #3230 — Ali higher
- 1940s: Aidan —, Ali #2953 — Ali higher
- 1950s: Aidan #3311, Ali #1977 — Ali higher
- 1960s: Aidan #2985, Ali #1245 — Ali higher
- 1970s: Aidan #2603, Ali #652 — Ali higher
- 1980s: Aidan #1558, Ali #524 — Ali higher
- 1990s: Aidan #444, Ali #441 — Ali higher
- 2000s: Aidan #61, Ali #369 — Aidan higher
- 2010s: Aidan #173, Ali #335 — Aidan higher
- 2020s: Aidan #297, Ali #317 — Aidan higher
Ali stood higher in 9 of 12 decades; Aidan has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Aidan | Ali |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | — | #3264 |
| 1920s | — | #3924 |
| 1930s | #3549 | #3230 |
| 1940s | — | #2953 |
| 1950s | #3311 | #1977 |
| 1960s | #2985 | #1245 |
| 1970s | #2603 | #652 |
| 1980s | #1558 | #524 |
| 1990s | #444 | #441 |
| 2000s | #61 | #369 |
| 2010s | #173 | #335 |
| 2020s | #297 | #317 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Aidan
Not charting outside the US.
Ali
- Canada#70
- France#73
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Aidan
little fire
From Irish aodh, fire, with the diminutive ending -an. Aodh was also a divine name in the pre-Christian Irish material, and it survives in the surnames Mac Aodha and O hAodha, anglicized as McHugh, Magee and Mackay.
Aodh → Aodhan → Aedan → Aidan
How it traveled
Aodh is among the oldest recorded Irish names, and its diminutive belonged to the monk whom the king of Northumbria asked Iona to send him. He founded the monastery on Lindisfarne in the seventh century, and the English kept his name in the spelling Aidan.
Ali
High, elevated, exalted
From the Arabic adjective ʿalī. Al-ʿAlī, "the Most High," is one of the names of God in Islam, which is why the human name is often given in the form Abd al-Ali in some families.
ʿalīy (Arabic, "high, exalted") → ʿAlī → Ali → Alija
How it traveled
" Its standing as a personal name rests above all on Ali ibn Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, the fourth caliph and, for Shia Muslims, the first Imam — a figure of the seventh century whose name spread wherever Islam went. From Arabia it reached North and West Africa, Anatolia, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, the Malay world and the Balkans, taking local shapes such as Bosnian Alija while the base form stayed intact.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Aidan
AY-dun
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Irish Aodhan is closer to AY-dawn, with a fuller second syllable than English gives it. The dh in the Irish spelling is silent; it marks a consonant that stopped being pronounced centuries ago.
- Aido — An Irish informal pattern that clips a name and adds -o; rarely used in American families.
- A.J. — Used where a middle name supplies the second initial; the name itself resists shortening.
Ali
AH-lee
Arabic and Turkish speakers say AH-lee with the weight on the first syllable. In American English you will also hear ah-LEE, stressed on the second, the way Muhammad Ali's name is usually said. Both are widely accepted; deciding which one your family uses early saves repeating it later.
- Ali — Already short; most bearers use the full name in every setting, formal and casual alike.
- Al — An English-language shortening picked up in American schools and workplaces; also stands alone as a name in its own right.
- Aly — A spelling variant more than a nickname, common in Egyptian and French transliteration and used as a full given name.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Aidan if you want…
- a name fewer children share#326 in 2025 — aidan will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name past its most crowded yearsAidan is stepping back from its peak
- a name that feels very nowAidan is stepping back from its peak
Choose Ali if you want…
- a name most people already know#306 in 2025, 1,116 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 18 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooAli is on the national lists of Canada and France
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 77% for Aidan
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Aidan
Strengths
- A documented seventh-century bearer and a fixed feast day, so the history is checkable rather than atmospheric.
- This is the Irish spelling, which settles the argument about which version is the original.
- Two syllables, stress on the first, and nobody needs to be told how to say it.
To consider
- Aiden, Ayden and Aden all exist, so this spelling will be corrected and re-corrected for life.
- It arrived alongside a large cohort of rhyming names and will be heard as one of them.
- The very few girls given the spelling will be read as boys on every form.
Ali
Strengths
- Three letters, spelled the way it sounds — rarely misspelled once heard, and it fits any form field.
- Recognized on sight across Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Urdu, Bosnian, Swahili and Malay-speaking communities, with no change of spelling.
- An unbroken record of use since the seventh century, so it has never had to be revived.
To consider
- In English-speaking countries Ali is also a short form of Alice, Alison and Alexandra, so a boy named Ali will occasionally be recorded as a girl on a form or a class list. It sorts itself out in person, but expect it.
- Two pronunciations circulate in the US — AH-lee and ah-LEE — and your son will hear both. Some families settle on one and correct gently; others let it ride.
- For many people the first association is Muhammad Ali, and for Shia Muslims the name carries deep religious weight. Neither is a problem, but both mean the name arrives with something already attached.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Aidan
77%chance Aidan feels dated by 2040
Aidan is coming down from a big peak (#39 in 2003). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Ali
40%chance Ali feels dated by 2040
Ali sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Aidan and Ali in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Aidan and Ali?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Aidan and Ali — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Aidan or Ali — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Aidan or Ali?
- Ali, in 2025: Ali ranked #306 with 1,116 babies; Aidan ranked #326 with 1,043 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Aidan or Ali?
- Ali. Over the last five years Aidan moved down 65 places; Ali moved up 18 places.
- Which is the older name, Aidan or Ali?
- Aidan entered the US charts in 1936; Ali entered the US charts in 1914. On the American record, Ali is the older name.
- How many people are named Aidan and Ali?
- About 117,000 people named Aidan are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 33,500 people named Ali are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Aidans or Alis in the classroom?
- Aidan will almost certainly be the only one in school. Ali will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Aidan, Ali and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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