Ariah
A feminine name derived from Hebrew meaning "lion or lioness of God".
Name Census estimates that about 11,193 living Americans carry the first name Ariah. It is a predominantly female name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Ariah today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ariah births was 2016 (1,053 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ariah. 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 Ariah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ariah is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 76 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Ariah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,622 Americans
Peak year
2016
1,053 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#583
Tracked since 1991
Census
Ariah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,427 people with the first name Ariah, which placed it at #3,311 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
#3,311
National first-name rank
People counted
6.4K
6,427 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
35.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ariah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ariah is Black at 35.0%. The next largest groups are White (28.1%) and Hispanic (22.1%). 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 Ariah 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 Ariah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American35.0% · 2,248
- White28.1% · 1,807
- Hispanic or Latino22.1% · 1,421
- Two or more races11.2% · 722
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 121
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 108
Gender
Gender distribution for Ariah
Out of the 11,286 babies given the name Ariah since 1880, 99.3% 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.
Ariah as a male name
- Ranked #7,772 in 2024
- 10 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (10 births)
Ariah as a female name
- Ranked #583 in 2024
- 516 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (1,046 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ariah leans strongly female. 6,318 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 111 male bearers (1.7%).
Popularity
Ariah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ariah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6,139 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ariah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ariah 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 Ariah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ariahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Ariah, while Rhode Island, North Dakota, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 209 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ariah
The name Ariah is a relatively modern name that has gained popularity in recent decades. Its origins can be traced back to the Hebrew language, where it is believed to be a variant spelling of the biblical name Uriah.
The name Uriah is derived from the Hebrew words "ur" meaning "light" or "flame" and "Yahweh" which is the Hebrew name for God. Thus, the name Ariah can be interpreted to mean "light of God" or "flame of God" in Hebrew.
While the name Uriah appears in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically in the Books of Samuel and Chronicles, there are no direct historical references to the name Ariah itself in ancient texts or religious scriptures.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Ariah can be found in the 17th century, with Ariah Nuhro, a Dutch-Jewish philosopher and theologian who lived from 1608 to 1680. He was a prominent figure in the intellectual circles of Amsterdam during his time.
Another notable individual with the name Ariah was Ariah Whitcomb, an American soldier who fought in the Revolutionary War. He was born in 1763 and served in the Massachusetts militia during the conflict.
In the 19th century, Ariah Huntington Boyden was an American businessman and inventor from Massachusetts. He is credited with inventing a machine for manufacturing leather belting, which revolutionized the leather industry in the 1800s.
Ariah Park, born in 1878, was a renowned Australian pastoralist and philanthropist. He made significant contributions to the development of the wool industry in New South Wales and was also known for his charitable works.
In more recent times, Ariah Rastegar is an American entrepreneur and real estate developer based in Los Angeles. He has been involved in several high-profile commercial and residential projects across the United States.
While the name Ariah has gained popularity in the modern era, its roots can be traced back to the ancient Hebrew language, with its meaning revolving around the concepts of light and divinity. Despite its relatively recent widespread usage, the name has been carried by individuals throughout history, from philosophers and soldiers to inventors and philanthropists.
People
Ariah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ariah 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
Ariah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ariah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,193 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ariah 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 30,622 US residents.
Is Ariah a common name?
We classify Ariah as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11,286 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ariah most popular?
The single biggest year for Ariah was 2016, when 1,053 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ariah is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ariah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,427 people with the name Ariah, or 2.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,311 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 Ariah 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 Ariah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ariah leans strongly female. 6,318 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 111 male bearers (1.7%). 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 Ariah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ariah is Black at 35.0%. The next largest groups are White (28.1%) and Hispanic (22.1%). 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 Ariah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ariah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.0% (2,248 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 Ariah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ariah a female name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Ariah 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 Ariah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ariah 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 Ariah 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 Ariah as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Ariah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.