Head to head · Boys' names
Augustine vs Eden
#545 vs #544 in 2025
Eden is a whisker ahead (#544 vs #545 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Eden is holding its place on the charts, Augustine is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Augustine has the edge.
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: Augustine and Eden 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: Augustine #638, Eden — — Augustine higher
- 1890s: Augustine #738, Eden — — Augustine higher
- 1900s: Augustine #654, Eden — — Augustine higher
- 1910s: Augustine #562, Eden #3217 — Augustine higher
- 1920s: Augustine #498, Eden #3726 — Augustine higher
- 1930s: Augustine #570, Eden #3679 — Augustine higher
- 1940s: Augustine #645, Eden #2910 — Augustine higher
- 1950s: Augustine #723, Eden #3173 — Augustine higher
- 1960s: Augustine #792, Eden #2645 — Augustine higher
- 1970s: Augustine #858, Eden #3133 — Augustine higher
- 1980s: Augustine #980, Eden #2470 — Augustine higher
- 1990s: Augustine #1147, Eden #1986 — Augustine higher
- 2000s: Augustine #1151, Eden #1210 — Augustine higher
- 2010s: Augustine #892, Eden #613 — Eden higher
- 2020s: Augustine #609, Eden #474 — Eden higher
Augustine stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Eden has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Augustine | Eden |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #638 | — |
| 1890s | #738 | — |
| 1900s | #654 | — |
| 1910s | #562 | #3217 |
| 1920s | #498 | #3726 |
| 1930s | #570 | #3679 |
| 1940s | #645 | #2910 |
| 1950s | #723 | #3173 |
| 1960s | #792 | #2645 |
| 1970s | #858 | #3133 |
| 1980s | #980 | #2470 |
| 1990s | #1147 | #1986 |
| 2000s | #1151 | #1210 |
| 2010s | #892 | #613 |
| 2020s | #609 | #474 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Augustine
Not charting outside the US.
Eden
- France#15
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Augustine
venerable, majestic
Latin Augustinus is a diminutive of Augustus, the title meaning 'venerable, consecrated, majestic', from augere, 'to increase'.
Augustus → Augustinus → Augustine → Austin
How it traveled
The name begins as Latin Augustinus, a diminutive of Augustus — the honorific taken by Rome's first emperor and by every emperor after him. Christianity carried it far past Rome: Augustine of Hippo in North Africa in the fourth and fifth centuries, and Augustine of Canterbury, sent to England in 597, made it a churchman's name across Western Europe.
Eden
Delight, pleasure
The Hebrew word ʿeden means delight or luxury, and that is the accepted sense of the given name. Scholars still argue over the garden's own name — whether it comes from that Hebrew root or from an older Mesopotamian word edinu, meaning plain or open country — but the naming tradition follows the Hebrew. Separately, Eden also exists as an English surname and place name (the River Eden in Cumbria), which is a different road to the same spelling.
ʿEden (Hebrew) → Ἐδέμ / Edem (Greek Septuagint) → Eden (Latin Vulgate) → Eden (English)
How it traveled
The name reaches English through the Hebrew Bible: ʿEden, the garden described in Genesis, carried into Greek by the translators of the Septuagint and then into Latin and English Bibles. For centuries in the English-speaking world it stayed a place and a byword for paradise rather than a name for a child, while surviving quite separately as an English surname and as the name of a river in Cumbria.
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
Augustine
aw-GUS-tin
Also said AW-gus-teen, the form usual in Britain and in the name of St. Augustine, Florida. Both are established in American English, so expect to correct people either way.
- Gus — The most common short form; also stands alone as a given name and is shared with Augustus and Gustav.
- Auggie — Informal, often used in childhood; sometimes spelled Augie.
- Austin — Historically the contracted English form of the same name, now overwhelmingly used as an independent given name and surname.
- Tino — Informal short form carried over from Spanish Agustín.
Eden
EE-den
Two syllables, stress on the first, and the second is a light -den rather than -dan. In Modern Hebrew it sounds closer to EH-den. The main hazard in the US is being heard as Aiden or Aden over the phone.
- Edie — Informal short form; also a long-established given name in its own right, from Edith.
- Eddie — Informal, used mostly for boys named Eden; independently a short form of Edward and Edmund.
- Deni — Informal, uncommon; built from the second syllable rather than the first.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Augustine if you want…
- a name on the way upup 166 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itAugustine runs 3 syllables, Eden 2
- a long American recordAugustine was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Eden if you want…
- a name holding steadyEden is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesEden is 2 syllables to Augustine's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooEden is on the national lists of France
- a newer arrivalEden entered the US charts in 1917
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
Augustine
Strengths
- Two well-worn short forms, Gus and Auggie, both in real use for generations.
- A spelling nearly everyone can read, thanks to the saint, the Florida city and the Confessions.
- An unbroken written record from Roman antiquity to the present, with no gap in use.
To consider
- Two accepted pronunciations, aw-GUS-tin and AW-gus-teen, means a lifetime of small clarifications — worth deciding early which one your family uses.
- The religious weight is real. For many people the name means the bishop of Hippo first, which some families love and others would rather not carry.
- Four syllables on paper, and most people will reach for Gus or Auggie in daily life. If you dislike either, that is useful to know now.
Eden
Strengths
- A spelling nearly everyone already knows from the Bible, so it rarely has to be spelled out or corrected in writing.
- Short and complete on its own — it needs no nickname, though Edie and Eddie are available if one is wanted.
- Moves between English, French, Spanish, Italian and Hebrew with at most an accent mark changing.
To consider
- The Garden of Eden is the first thing most English speakers hear. That association is warm rather than heavy, but it is unavoidable, and a small number of people will read it as an explicitly religious choice.
- It sits close to the Aiden–Aidan–Aden cluster in sound, so expect occasional mishearing and the wrong spelling on a coffee cup or a class list.
- Most Edens in the US are girls, with a steady minority of boys. A boy named Eden will meet the odd assumption on paper, though the name itself is genuinely used both ways.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Augustine and Eden 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 Augustine and Eden?
Put both to the vote.
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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 these names appear on
- Vintage names making a comeback
- Grandmother-chic: 1920s names ready to return
- Nine-letter names, the long end of the chart
- The longest comebacks in the records
- all guides
Where Augustine and Eden each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Augustine or Eden — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Augustine or Eden?
- Eden, in 2025: Eden ranked #544 with 551 babies; Augustine ranked #545 with 549 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Augustine or Eden?
- Augustine. Over the last five years Augustine moved up 166 places; Eden moved down 53 places.
- Which is the older name, Augustine or Eden?
- Augustine was already in use when US records began in 1880; Eden entered the US charts in 1917. On the American record, Augustine is the older name.
- How many people are named Augustine and Eden?
- About 11,500 people named Augustine are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 11,000 people named Eden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Augustines or Edens in the classroom?
- Augustine will almost certainly be the only one in school. Eden 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
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