Aris
Masculine · “Either "Ares”
Aris is given to both — 2,753 boys and 1,853 girls since 1880. See Aris as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Aris is the modern Greek form of Ares, the name of the Olympian god of war, and also the everyday short form of the long Greek names built on aristos, "best" — Aristotelis, Aristeidis, Aristarchos. Two syllables, four letters, no silent anything. It has been turning up in American records since the years around the First World War, quietly and without a break.
How old is the name Aris?
Aris first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Aris alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 2,600 people named Aris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aris most popular?
Aris peaked in 2025, reaching #1333 nationally. Today it ranks #1333, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From Ἄρης (Ares) to Aris
The story of Aris
The older road runs through Ἄρης, Ares, the Greek war god of Homer and Hesiod, whose name passes into modern Greek as Άρης and is transliterated Aris. The second road is plainer and busier: Greeks have for generations shortened Aristotelis, Aristeidis and Aristarchos to Aris in daily speech, the way Theodoros becomes Thodoris. The name also stands on its own in the Netherlands as a men's name, and is common in Indonesia, where it arrived by a separate route entirely. In the United States its strongest showing is in California, Texas and New York — the states where Greek, Dutch and Southeast Asian families have settled thickest.
Meaningscholars disagree
Either "Ares," the Greek god of war, or "best" — from the aristos names it shortens
In Greek, Άρης is straightforwardly the god Ares, and Aris is the ordinary modern spelling of that name. But Aris is equally the clipped everyday form of Aristotelis, Aristeidis and Aristarchos, all of which begin with aristos, "best, excellent." Both readings are well documented; which one a family means depends on the family.
How the name formed
- ἌρηςAres
- Aristotelis / Aristeidis
- Άρης
- Aris
Related forms: Άρης · Ares · Aristotelis · Aris · Aris · Ares
Pronouncing Aris
AR-iss
Stress falls on the first syllable, rhyming roughly with Paris. Greek speakers say it closer to AH-rees, with a longer second vowel. Both are correct; families usually settle on one early and repeat it often.
Nicknames for Aris
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
- 1916
- Most boys named
- 2025144 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1333reached in 2025
- Change vs 2023
- +45.5%144 in 2025, from 99
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.
Aris in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Άρης in Greek — transliteration
- Ares in Ancient Greek — related form
- Aristotelis in Greek — related form
- Aris in Dutch — same name
- Aris in Indonesian — same name
- Ares in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Ariss among us
people named Aris are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 11,862 born in 2025 was named Aris
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Aris
- #1333
- Aris on the 2025 chart
- #663
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Aris went to 144 boys in 2025, but Aariz, Ariz and Arris and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 276, which makes it the 663rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 670 places above the chart.
- Aris144
- Aariz86
- Ariz26
- Arris14
- Aaris6
About 1 boy in 6,189 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 11,862 for Aris 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 Yuri test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aris's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Yuri climbed just as high around 1976, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Yuri's path sketches the road Aris is walking now.
Aris 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Aris is headed
Aris 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.
Aris beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aris in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, two syllables, spelled the way it sounds — it survives forms, phone calls and coffee cups without correction.
- Works in Greek, Dutch and Indonesian as well as English, so it travels across several language communities without translation.
- An unbroken presence in American records since the early twentieth century, so it is neither newly coined nor tied to one decade.
- Sits beside the familiar Ari, so listeners place it immediately even on first hearing.
- Comes with a ready-made formal option: it can serve as the short form of Aristotelis or Aristeidis on a birth certificate.
- Aris, Ari, Aries and Ares all live within a hair of each other. Expect a lifetime of people writing Ari, or reading it as the zodiac sign Aries, and of gently correcting both.
- The pronunciation genuinely splits — AR-iss in English mouths, AH-rees in Greek ones. Neither is wrong, but a bilingual family should agree which version is the home version.
- He will almost certainly be the only Aris in his school. That means no surname initial ever needed, and also that the name gets spelled aloud rather often.
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What they receive
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Aris
Masculine · #1333 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ariss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Aris are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Aris?
- Aris is the most-used spelling in US records — 144 of the 276 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Aariz, Ariz, Arris and Aaris.
- How popular is the name Aris in 2025?
- Aris ranks #1333 among US boy names in 2025, with 144 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Aris?
- About 1 in every 11,862 US boys born in 2025 was named Aris — 144 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aris with classmates?
- Aris will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aris
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Avyan#1333 · Markus#1333 · Viraj#1333 · London#1333 · Noble#1333 · Gilbert#1328 · Sanad#1328 · Gus#1328
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aris? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Aris and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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