Arian
Of Iranian origin, meaning "noble" or "distinguished."
Name Census estimates that about 7,912 living Americans carry the first name Arian. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Arian today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arian births was 2013 (543 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arian. 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 Arian with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Arian is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
7.9K
~ 1 in 43,321 Americans
Peak year
2013
543 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#860
Tracked since 1969
Census
Arian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,732 people with the first name Arian, which placed it at #3,204 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
#3,204
National first-name rank
People counted
6.7K
6,732 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
40.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arian is Hispanic at 40.8%. The next largest groups are White (33.1%) and Black (14.0%). 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 Arian 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 Arian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino40.8% · 2,745
- White33.1% · 2,231
- Black or African American14.0% · 942
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.1% · 411
- Two or more races5.0% · 338
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 65
Gender
Gender distribution for Arian
Arian leans heavily male at 80.5% of total registrations, but 1,567 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Arian as a male name
- Ranked #860 in 2024
- 280 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (494 births)
Arian as a female name
- Ranked #7,985 in 2024
- 13 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (68 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Arian on both sides of the split. Of the 6,730 people counted with this name, 5,216 were male (77.5%) and 1,514 were female (22.5%).
Popularity
Arian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arian from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,357 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Arian remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arian 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 Arian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Arian, while Nebraska, Alabama, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 152 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arian
The name Arian has its origins in the ancient Persian language and culture, dating back to the 6th century BCE. It is derived from the Old Persian word "arya," which means "noble" or "honorable." This name was particularly popular among the ancient Persian aristocracy and was often used to signify a person's high social status and lineage.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Arian can be found in the Achaemenid inscriptions, which were carved into the walls of the Persian royal palaces in Persepolis and Naqsh-e Rustam. These inscriptions mention several Persian kings and noblemen with the name Arian or its variants, such as Ariana and Arianes.
In the ancient Zoroastrian religion, which was the predominant faith in ancient Persia, the name Arian was associated with the concept of "asha," which represented truth, righteousness, and cosmic order. This connection further elevated the name's prestige and made it a popular choice among the Zoroastrian community.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Arian. One of the most famous was Arian of Alexandria (256-336 CE), a Christian priest and theologian who sparked the Arian controversy over the nature of the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. His teachings, which challenged the doctrine of the Trinity, led to the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE.
Another prominent figure with the name Arian was Arian the Great (858-923 CE), an Armenian mathematician and scholar who made significant contributions to the fields of geometry, algebra, and astronomy. His works, including the "Book of Proofs" and the "Treatise on the Quadrature of the Circle," were highly influential in the medieval Islamic world.
In the realm of literature, Arian Leib (1876-1937) was a notable Yiddish poet and playwright from Ukraine. His works, such as "The Forgotten," explored themes of Jewish identity and the struggle for cultural preservation in the face of persecution and assimilation.
Arian Moayed (born 1980) is a contemporary Iranian-American actor known for his roles in films like "The Accidental Husband" and television series such as "Succession" and "The Messenger."
Finally, Arian Foster (born 1986) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Houston Texans and the Miami Dolphins. He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection and led the NFL in rushing yards in 2010.
While the name Arian has roots in ancient Persian culture, it has transcended its origins and been adopted by various cultures and communities worldwide, each imbuing it with their own unique meanings and associations.
People
Arian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arian 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
Arian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,912 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arian 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 43,321 US residents.
Is Arian a common name?
We classify Arian as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,041 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arian most popular?
The single biggest year for Arian was 2013, when 543 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arian is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,732 people with the name Arian, or 2.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,204 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 Arian 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 Arian?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Arian on both sides of the split. Of the 6,730 people counted with this name, 5,216 were male (77.5%) and 1,514 were female (22.5%). 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 Arian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arian is Hispanic at 40.8%. The next largest groups are White (33.1%) and Black (14.0%). 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 Arian most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Arian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.8% (2,745 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 Arian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arian a male name?
Yes, 80.5% of people registered as Arian 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 Arian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arian 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 Arian 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 share the name Arian?
Want to know how many people share the name Arian? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.