Aine
Feminine · “radiance”
Áine is the Irish word for radiance, and it belongs to a figure who has been in the Irish record for a very long time — a goddess of summer and sovereignty who later became a queen of the fairies.
How old is the name Aine?
Aine first appears in US birth records in 1966 — 59 years ago. The typical Aine alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 1,700 people named Aine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aine most popular?
Aine peaked in 2003, reaching #2439 nationally. Today it ranks #3780, 1,341 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Where it comes from
From áine to Aine
The story of Aine
Áine appears in the earliest Irish material as a goddess of sovereignty and summer, connected to a specific hill in County Limerick where midsummer fires were lit into the nineteenth century. Later tradition made her a queen of the sídhe. The name was revived in twentieth-century Ireland with the return to Irish names and is now well used there; it appears in American records with Irish families.
Meaning
radiance, brightness
From Irish áine, brightness or splendor; the same word is used of the sun's light, and the goddess Áine was associated with midsummer and with the hill of Knockainey in Limerick.
How the name formed
- áine
- Áine
Related forms: Áine · Anya
Pronouncing Aine
AWN-yah
Two syllables, first stressed; the accent marks a long a. English readers say AYN or AY-nee, neither of which is right.
Nicknames for Aine
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
- 1966
- Most girls named
- 200468 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2439reached in 2003
- Change vs 2024
- −23.5%39 in 2025, from 51
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.
Aine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Áine in Irish — same name
- Anya in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Massachusetts, New York, California.
Aines among us
people named Aine are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 41,212 born in 2025 was named Aine
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 Carmina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aine's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carmina climbed just as high around 1976, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carmina's path sketches the road Aine is walking now.
Aine 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 Aine is headed
Aine should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Aine beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning in a living language with a genuinely deep mythological record.
- Four letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- Very well used in Ireland, so it has a real community that knows it exactly.
- Nobody outside Ireland reads the spelling correctly, and she will say it for strangers all her life.
- The accent will be dropped by American systems, which loses the long vowel.
- Anya and Áine are said almost identically and look nothing alike.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Aine
Feminine · #3780 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Aines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Aine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Aine in 2025?
- Aine ranks #3780 among US girl names in 2025, with 39 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Aine?
- About 1 in every 41,212 US girls born in 2025 was named Aine — 39 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aine with classmates?
- Aine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aine
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kimberlyn#3780 · Jonah#3780 · Jakayla#3780 · Shriya#3780 · Analeigh#3780 · Daliyah#3780 · Dawsyn#3780 · Jamia#3780
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Aine and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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