Aedan
Masculine · “little fire”
Aedan is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,862 boys against 43 girls since 1880.
Aedan is a spelling of Aodhán, the Irish diminutive of Aodh — the ordinary Old Irish word for fire, and the name of a god before it was the name of anyone else.
How old is the name Aedan?
Aedan first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Aedan alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 3,800 people named Aedan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aedan most popular?
Aedan peaked in 2006, reaching #759 nationally. Today it ranks #3658, 2,899 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aodh to Aedan
The story of Aedan
Aodh was among the commonest men's names in early Ireland, and its diminutive Aodhán was borne by a seventh-century monk of Iona who founded Lindisfarne and evangelised Northumbria — which is why Aidan is familiar in England as well. English spelling has produced Aidan, Aiden, Ayden and Aedan, and the last is closest to the Irish original while still being readable.
Meaning
little fire
From Irish Aodh, fire, with the diminutive ending -án; the same root gives Aidan, Egan, Keegan and Hayes their origins, and the god Aodh belonged to the pre-Christian pantheon.
How the name formed
- Aodh
- Aodhán
- Aedan
Related forms: Aodhán · Aidan · Aodhan
Pronouncing Aedan
AY-dan
Two syllables, first stressed. Irish Aodhán is closer to AY-dawn.
Nicknames for Aedan
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1988
- Most boys named
- 2007283 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #759reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −42.3%30 in 2025, from 52
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Aedan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Aodhán in Irish — same name
- Aidan in English — spelling variant
- Aodhan in Scottish Gaelic — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Aedans among us
people named Aedan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 56,936 born in 2025 was named Aedan
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Laron test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aedan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Laron climbed just as high around 1976, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Laron's path sketches the road Aedan is walking now.
Aedan 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Aedan is headed
Aedan is easing off slowly — about 20% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Aedan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aedan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Irish meaning with a genuinely vivid element behind it.
- A documented seventh-century saint who founded Lindisfarne carried the name.
- Read correctly on sight by most English speakers.
- Aidan and Aiden are both far more written and this spelling will be corrected constantly.
- The sound is very widely used and started a whole rhyme family, so a classroom may hold several.
- The ae is genuinely ambiguous to a reader meeting it cold.
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What they receive
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Aedan
Masculine · #3658 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Aedans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,800 people named Aedan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Aedan in 2025?
- Aedan ranks #3658 among US boy names in 2025, with 30 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Aedan?
- About 1 in every 56,936 US boys born in 2025 was named Aedan — 30 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aedan with classmates?
- Aedan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aedan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jimmie#3658 · Mckinley#3658 · Menno#3658 · Claudio#3658 · Ezekial#3658 · Brandt#3658 · Benuel#3658 · Gustav#3658
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aedan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Aedan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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