Aidan
An English masculine given name of Gaelic origin meaning "fiery" or "little fire".
Name Census estimates that about 118,619 living Americans carry the first name Aidan. It sits at #312 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (97.7% of registrations). The average person named Aidan today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aidan births was 2003 (10,296 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aidan. 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 Aidan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Aidan is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 2,719 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
119K
~ 1 in 2,890 Americans
Peak year
2003
10,296 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#312
Tracked since 1936
Census
Aidan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 108,852 people with the first name Aidan, which placed it at #522 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
#522
National first-name rank
People counted
109K
108,852 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
36.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aidan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aidan is White at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.1%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Aidan 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 Aidan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.3% · 76,541
- Hispanic or Latino15.1% · 16,480
- Two or more races6.9% · 7,520
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 4,057
- Black or African American3.4% · 3,701
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 553
Gender
Gender distribution for Aidan
Aidan leans heavily male at 97.7% of total registrations, but 2,719 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Aidan as a male name
- Ranked #312 in 2024
- 1,092 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (10,067 births)
Aidan as a female name
- Ranked #12,162 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (229 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aidan leans strongly male. 106,291 people counted with this name were male (97.7%), compared with 2,552 female bearers (2.3%).
Popularity
Aidan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aidan from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 78,124 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aidan 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 Aidan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aidans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Aidan, while Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,304 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aidan
The name Aidan is derived from the Irish Gaelic name Aodhán, which means "little fire" or "fiery one". It originated from the ancient Celtic culture of Ireland, dating back to at least the 6th century AD.
Aidan was a popular name among early Irish Christians, as it was borne by several saints and religious figures. One of the most notable was St. Aidan, an Irish monk who brought Christianity to Northumbria in England in the 7th century. He founded the monastery on the island of Lindisfarne and is remembered for his missionary work and influence in spreading the faith.
The name Aidan also appears in early Irish literature and manuscripts, such as the Annals of Ulster, which record events and individuals from the 5th to the 16th century. It was a common name among the Irish nobility and ruling families during this period.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Aidan is from the 7th century, when Aidan mac Gabrain was the King of Scots from 574 to 608 AD. Another notable figure was Aidan of Ferns, an Irish saint and bishop who lived in the 7th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Aidan. These include Aidan of Lindisfarne (d. 651), an Irish monk and missionary credited with restoring Christianity to Northumbria; Aidan of Mayo (d. 768), an Irish saint and abbot; and Aidan of Clonenagh (d. 626), an Irish saint and founder of the monastery at Clonenagh.
In more recent times, Aidan Gillen (born 1968) is an Irish actor known for his roles in Game of Thrones and The Wire. Aidan Quinn (born 1959) is an American actor who has appeared in films such as Legends of the Fall and Practical Magic. Aidan Turner (born 1983) is an Irish actor best known for his role in the TV series Poldark.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Aidan
People
Aidan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aidan 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
Aidan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aidan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 118,619 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aidan 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 2,890 US residents.
Is Aidan a common name?
We classify Aidan as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 120,089 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aidan most popular?
The single biggest year for Aidan was 2003, when 10,296 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aidan is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aidan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 108,852 people with the name Aidan, or 36.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #522 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 Aidan 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 Aidan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aidan leans strongly male. 106,291 people counted with this name were male (97.7%), compared with 2,552 female bearers (2.3%). 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 Aidan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aidan is White at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.1%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Aidan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aidan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.3% (76,541 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 Aidan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aidan a male name?
Yes, 97.7% of people registered as Aidan in the SSA data are male. 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 Aidan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aidan 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 Aidan 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 people have the name Aidan?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Aidan, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.