Aspen
Feminine · Old English roots · “aspen tree”
Aspen is given to both — 24,726 girls and 3,010 boys since 1880. See Aspen as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Aspen is the English name of a tree whose leaves are hung on flattened stalks, so that they turn and shiver in air too slight to move anything else — the quaking aspen. The word itself is old: Old English æspe, with cousins across the Germanic languages. Two syllables, both easy, and a spelling almost no one has to be told twice.
How old is the name Aspen?
Aspen first appears in US birth records in 1973 — 52 years ago. The typical Aspen is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 24,500 people named Aspen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aspen most popular?
Aspen peaked in 2022, reaching #196 nationally. Today it ranks #266, 70 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Where it comes from
From æspe (Old English) to Aspen
The story of Aspen
The root is Old English æspe, related to German Espe, Dutch esp and Norse ösp, all naming the same restless-leaved poplar. In Middle English the tree was the asp, and 'aspen' described things belonging to it; by the later medieval period the adjective had taken over as the noun, which is the form English kept. Aspen groves gave their name to the Colorado silver town in the 1880s, and that town later became better known than the tree to most Americans. The given name arrives out of both at once — the word and the place — and belongs to the broader American habit of naming children after trees and landscapes.
Meaning
aspen tree — the trembling poplar
Curiously, the -en was once an adjective ending: an 'aspen leaf' meant a leaf of the asp tree. The adjective swallowed the noun, and aspen became the tree's own name.
How the name formed
- æspeOld English
- aspMiddle English tree name
- aspenadjective, 'of the asp tree'
- aspenthe tree
- Aspen
Related forms: Ösp · Asp · Espe · Esp
Pronouncing Aspen
ASS-pin
Stress on the first syllable, the second reduced — exactly as the tree is said. Some speakers say ASS-pen with a fuller second vowel; both pass unremarked.
Nicknames for Aspen
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
- 1973
- Most girls named
- 20221,518 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #196reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −2.2%1,179 in 2025, from 1,205
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.
Aspen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ösp in Icelandic — related form
- Asp in Swedish — related form
- Espe in German — related form
- Esp in Dutch — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Colorado, California.
Aspens among us
people named Aspen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,363 born in 2025 was named Aspen
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 Jazmine test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aspen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jazmine climbed just as high around 1994, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jazmine's path sketches the road Aspen is walking now.
Aspen 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 Aspen is headed
Aspen 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.
Aspen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aspen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way the ordinary English word is spelled, so it is written correctly by most people on the first hearing.
- Used for both boys and girls with the same spelling and the same pronunciation, with no separate form to choose between.
- Two short syllables that survive being called across a playground and fit easily in front of most surnames.
- Sits within a well-established family of American tree and landscape names, so it is understood as a name straight away.
- For most Americans the first association is the Colorado ski town rather than the tree, which brings a whiff of money and holidays with it. Strongest in Colorado and its neighbors, where the place-name reading is nearly automatic.
- The great majority of Aspens are girls. A boy will meet forms, teachers and strangers who assume otherwise on paper — manageable, but worth expecting.
- The obvious shortenings are awkward: Asp is a venomous snake, and Aspie is widely used as informal shorthand for Asperger's. Ace and Pen do the job better.
- This name's whole wave is recent, so nearly everyone carrying it is young. There are no elderly Aspens to make it sound established — that comes with time.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Aspen
Feminine · Old English roots · #266 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Aspens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 24,500 people named Aspen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Aspen in 2025?
- Aspen ranks #266 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,179 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Aspen?
- About 1 in every 1,363 US girls born in 2025 was named Aspen — 1,179 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aspen with classmates?
- Aspen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aspen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Talia#265 · Elaina#267 · Selena#268 · Ophelia#264 · Arleth#269 · Aliyah#263 · Norah#262 · Nayeli#270
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aspen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Aspen and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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