Head to head · Boys' names
Ares vs Avery
#290 vs #291 in 2025
Ares is a whisker ahead (#290 vs #291 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Ares is climbing the charts fast, Avery 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
The tape is even: Ares and Avery each lead 3 measures of 6.
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
- 1880s: Ares —, Avery #548 — Avery higher
- 1890s: Ares —, Avery #470 — Avery higher
- 1900s: Ares —, Avery #565 — Avery higher
- 1910s: Ares —, Avery #557 — Avery higher
- 1920s: Ares —, Avery #598 — Avery higher
- 1930s: Ares —, Avery #688 — Avery higher
- 1940s: Ares —, Avery #743 — Avery higher
- 1950s: Ares —, Avery #673 — Avery higher
- 1960s: Ares —, Avery #580 — Avery higher
- 1970s: Ares —, Avery #584 — Avery higher
- 1980s: Ares #6238, Avery #529 — Avery higher
- 1990s: Ares #4807, Avery #323 — Avery higher
- 2000s: Ares #2975, Avery #226 — Avery higher
- 2010s: Ares #880, Avery #193 — Avery higher
- 2020s: Ares #432, Avery #239 — Avery higher
Avery stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Ares | Avery |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #548 |
| 1890s | — | #470 |
| 1900s | — | #565 |
| 1910s | — | #557 |
| 1920s | — | #598 |
| 1930s | — | #688 |
| 1940s | — | #743 |
| 1950s | — | #673 |
| 1960s | — | #580 |
| 1970s | — | #584 |
| 1980s | #6238 | #529 |
| 1990s | #4807 | #323 |
| 2000s | #2975 | #226 |
| 2010s | #880 | #193 |
| 2020s | #432 | #239 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Ares
Linked to Greek words for battle and ruin
The usual reading connects Ἄρης to the Greek noun arē, 'bane, ruin, curse,' and to a sense of 'battle strife' — the god's name as a plain word for what war does. Other scholars treat it as pre-Greek and unexplained, a divine name inherited by the Greeks rather than built from their own vocabulary. Both positions are seriously held.
Ἄρης (Ancient Greek) → Ares (Latin form) → Άρης / Áris (Modern Greek) → Ares (English, Spanish)
How it traveled
Ares belongs to the oldest layer of Greek religion, and the name appears in Greek texts from the Homeric poems onward, where he is the war god — quarrelsome, disliked by the other Olympians, and no one's favorite. The Romans matched him to their own Mars, but the Greek form stayed Greek, and it survives in modern Greece as Áris, a living given name rather than a museum piece.
Avery
elf ruler, from Germanic alf 'elf' and ric 'power, ruler'
Avery and Aubrey are two English outcomes of the same Germanic name, Alberich, which reached England through Norman French.
Alberich → Auberi → Aubrey → Avery
How it traveled
The Germanic name Alberich — alf, 'elf', plus ric, 'power' or 'ruler' — arrived in England with Norman French speakers, who had reshaped it into forms like Auberi and Auvrey. Those forms produced both Aubrey and Avery in medieval English use, and Avery then settled into an English family name carried down the generations.
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
Ares
AIR-eez
AIR-eez is the English pronunciation, from the mythology. In Spanish the same spelling is said AH-res, with both syllables short and the stress on the first — worth deciding early, since both versions are in real use in the US and each side will assume the other.
- Ari — The most natural short form in English, and a standalone given name in its own right through Hebrew and Greek lines.
- Aris — The standard Greek form of the full name; used informally in English-speaking families as a slightly longer alternative to Ari.
- Rey / Res — Heard in Spanish-speaking households as a clipped, informal form; not established in wider use.
Avery
AY-vuh-ree
Often compressed to two syllables, AYV-ree, in ordinary speech. Both are standard and no one will correct you.
- Ave — Informal household short form, usually rhyming with 'save'.
- Avi — Informal, and also a standalone given name of separate Hebrew origin.
- Aves — Casual, more common among friends and siblings than adults.
- Ave-Ave — Doubling used with small children; drops away with age.
- Also Ry.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Ares if you want…
- a name on the way upup 305 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesAres is 1 syllable to Avery's 3
- a newer arrivalAres entered the US charts in 1983
Choose Avery if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAvery is stepping back from its peak
- a name with more sound in itAvery runs 3 syllables, Ares 1
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Ave, Avi and Aves
- a long American recordAvery was already in use when US records began in 1880
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
Ares
Strengths
- Five letters, spelled exactly as it sounds in both English and Spanish — no silent letters, no alternate spellings competing for attention.
- A documented record stretching back to the earliest Greek literature, unbroken as a name in Greece itself.
- Ari is a ready-made short form that already stands alone as a name, so there is a softer everyday option built in.
To consider
- It will be heard as Aries, the zodiac sign, constantly — in roll calls, on the phone, at the doctor's office. Expect a lifetime of gentle correcting, and note that the two words are genuinely close in English speech.
- The god himself gets a bad press in the Greek sources: Homer's Olympians find him brutal and tiresome. Most people only remember 'god of war,' but anyone who reads further finds an unflattering character.
- The pronunciation splits by language, so a child may answer to AIR-eez at school and AH-res at home. That works fine for many families, but it is worth choosing which one you will correct people to.
Avery
Strengths
- One spelling that almost everyone can write on first hearing, with no silent letters to explain.
- A documented line back to medieval England and, before that, to Germanic Alberich — the same root that gave Aubrey.
- Works for a son or a daughter without changing form, and is well established in both directions in American use.
To consider
- Because most Averys are girls, a boy named Avery will meet assumptions on paper — forms, class lists, first emails. Nothing that a spoken introduction doesn't fix, but it happens repeatedly.
- Ava and Avery sit close together in sound and in current use, so expect the occasional mix-up between the two, and think about it before pairing them with a sibling name that starts the same way.
- Averie, Averi and Avry all exist as spellings, so you may sometimes be asked which one you meant.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Ares
58%chance Ares feels dated by 2040
Ares is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Avery
40%chance Avery feels dated by 2040
Avery 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 Ares and Avery 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 Ares and Avery?
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 head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- One-syllable names: said in a single beat
- Hero and god names for boys
- Names ending in -s
- Three-syllable names with room to move
- all guides
Where Ares and Avery each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Ares or Avery — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Ares or Avery?
- Ares, in 2025: Ares ranked #290 with 1,157 babies; Avery ranked #291 with 1,156 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Ares or Avery?
- Ares. Over the last five years Ares moved up 305 places; Avery moved down 80 places.
- Which is the older name, Ares or Avery?
- Ares entered the US charts in 1983; Avery was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Avery is the older name.
- How many people are named Ares and Avery?
- About 8,200 people named Ares are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 62,000 people named Avery are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Aress or Averys in the classroom?
- Ares will almost certainly be the only one in school. Avery will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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