Aiden
Masculine · “Little fire”
Aiden is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 257,765 boys against 2,147 girls since 1880. See Aiden as a girl name
Behind this spelling sits one of the oldest names in Ireland: Aodh, borne by kings and warriors in medieval Irish annals, softened by the affectionate ending -án. It traveled into English as Aidan, then into this streamlined form, which reads at a glance and says itself the same way in almost any accent. Two syllables, a long open first vowel, and a soft landing.
How old is the name Aiden?
Aiden first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Aiden alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 255,000 people named Aiden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aiden most popular?
Aiden peaked in 2010, reaching #9 nationally. Today it ranks #62, 53 places below that high. See the whole 2010 chart.
Where it comes from
From Áed to Aiden
The story of Aiden
The root is the Old Irish name Aodh (earlier Áed), which appears repeatedly in Irish genealogies and annals, and its pet form Aodhán. The best-known early bearer was Aidan of Lindisfarne, the seventh-century Irish monk sent from Iona to Northumbria, whose cult carried the name into English-speaking Britain. For centuries afterwards it stayed largely Irish and largely rare, before returning through the wider revival of Gaelic names in the twentieth century. The -en spelling is the American respelling of that revival, and it now travels alongside the Irish Aidan rather than replacing it.
Meaning
Little fire, from Irish Aodh, 'fire'
Aodh was a common early Irish given name meaning 'fire'; Aodhán adds the diminutive ending -án, giving the sense of 'little fire' or 'fiery one'.
How the name formed
- Áed
- Aodh
- Aodhán
- Aidan
- Aiden
Related forms: Aodhán · Aidan · Aodh · Aodh · Ayden · Áed
Pronouncing Aiden
AY-den
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Irish Aodhán is closer to AY-dawn or EY-thawn depending on dialect, so relatives with Irish Gaelic may say it differently.
Nicknames for Aiden
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
- 1970
- Most boys named
- 200916,030 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #9reached in 2010
- Change vs 2024
- −19.4%5,046 in 2025, from 6,262
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.
Aiden in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Aodhán in Irish — same name
- Aidan in English (Irish tradition) — spelling variant
- Aodh in Irish — related form
- Aodh in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Ayden in English — spelling variant
- Áed in Old Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Statistics Canada. Sources
Aidens among us
people named Aiden are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 339 born in 2025 was named Aiden
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Aiden
- #62
- Aiden on the 2025 chart
- #42
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Aiden went to 5,046 boys in 2025, but Ayden is the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 6,435, which makes it the 42nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 20 places above the chart.
- Aiden5,046
- Ayden1,343
and 4 rarer spellings.
About 1 boy in 265 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 339 for Aiden itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ronald test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aiden's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ronald climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ronald's path sketches the road Aiden is walking now.
Aiden is coming down from a big peak (#9 in 2010). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Aiden is headed
Aiden is easing off slowly — about 16% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High 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.
Aiden beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aiden in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds for English speakers, and short enough to fit on any form.
- A documented line running back to early medieval Ireland, with the seventh-century Aidan of Lindisfarne as its best-known early bearer.
- Two clear syllables that survive most accents intact, and it charts in Canada as well as the United States.
- Carried today by Irish and Australian sportsmen, so it reads as a grown man's name as easily as a boy's.
- The -aden sound is shared with Jayden, Kayden, Brayden and Hayden, so mishearings over the phone are common even when the spelling is clear.
- Aidan, Ayden and Aden all circulate, which means a lifetime of confirming which one. Aidan is the older Irish form if that matters to you.
- The name is strongly weighted toward children and teenagers rather than adults, so it may read as distinctly of one generation for a while yet.
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What they receive
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Aiden
Masculine · #62 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Aidens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 255,000 people named Aiden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Aiden?
- Aiden is the most-used spelling in US records — 5,046 of the 6,435 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Ayden.
- How popular is the name Aiden in 2025?
- Aiden ranks #62 among US boy names in 2025, with 5,046 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Aiden?
- About 1 in every 339 US boys born in 2025 was named Aiden — 5,046 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aiden with classmates?
- Aiden will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aiden
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ezekiel#61 · Nathan#63 · Brooks#64 · Beau#60 · Rowan#59 · Nolan#65 · Caleb#58 · Joshua#66
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aiden? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Aiden and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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