Aida
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "visitor" or "returning".
Name Census estimates that about 10,531 living Americans carry the first name Aida. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aida today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aida births was 2005 (243 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aida. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Aida with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 32,547 Americans
Peak year
2005
243 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
1986 SSA rank
#1,242
Tracked since 1881
Census
Aida in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 33,711 people with the first name Aida, which placed it at #1,169 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,169
National first-name rank
People counted
34K
33,711 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
69.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aida
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aida is Hispanic at 69.8%. The next largest groups are White (18.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Aida described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Aida at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino69.8% · 23,524
- White18.1% · 6,088
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.8% · 2,624
- Black or African American3.3% · 1,116
- Two or more races1.0% · 336
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 23
Gender
Gender distribution for Aida
Out of the 13,629 babies given the name Aida since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Aida as a male name
- Ranked #6,742 in 1986
- 5 male births in 1986
- Peak: 1986 (5 births)
Aida as a female name
- Ranked #1,242 in 2024
- 187 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2005 (243 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aida appears almost entirely female. Of the 33,710 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Aida: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aida from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 1,750 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Aida remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aida by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Aida during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aidas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Aida, while Rhode Island, Louisiana, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 328 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aida
The name Aida has its origins in the Germanic languages, derived from the Old High German "ait" meaning "noble kind" or "noble sort." It first emerged in the early medieval period, around the 7th or 8th century CE, in what is now modern-day Germany and the surrounding regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Aida can be found in the ancient Germanic epic poem "Nibelungenlied," written around the 13th century. In the poem, Aida is mentioned as a minor character, suggesting the name was in use during that time period.
In the 16th century, the name gained prominence with the birth of Aida Overton Walker (1880-1914), an African American entertainer and performer who was a pioneer in the early days of vaudeville and musical theater. She was known for her innovative dance routines and her ability to blend various cultural influences into her performances.
Another notable figure with the name Aida was Aida de Acosta (1884-1962), a Cuban-American writer, and activist. She was one of the first Latinas to publish a novel in English, and her works often explored themes of gender, race, and identity.
In the realm of classical music, the name Aida is perhaps most famously associated with the renowned opera of the same name, composed by Giuseppe Verdi in 1871. The opera tells the story of an Ethiopian princess named Aida, who is captured and brought into slavery in Egypt.
Another influential figure with the name Aida was Aida Tomescu (1886-1937), a Romanian painter and sculptor. She was a prominent figure in the avant-garde art movement and is credited with introducing modernist styles to Romanian art.
Lastly, Aida Curt (1915-2005) was a Romanian-American scientist and engineer who made significant contributions to the field of aerodynamics. She worked for NASA and played a crucial role in the development of the Mercury and Gemini space programs.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Aida
People
Aida + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aida as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Aida: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aida?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,531 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aida going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 32,547 US residents.
Is Aida a common name?
We classify Aida as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,629 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aida most popular?
The single biggest year for Aida was 2005, when 243 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aida is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aida in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 33,711 people with the name Aida, or 11.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,169 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Aida in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Aida?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aida appears almost entirely female. Of the 33,710 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Aida?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aida is Hispanic at 69.8%. The next largest groups are White (18.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Aida most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Aida in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.8% (23,524 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Aida in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aida a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aida in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Aida still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aida in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Aida can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Aida?
See how many Americans are named Aida on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.