Arien
A feminine name of Celtic origin meaning "ardent" or "fiery".
Name Census estimates that about 1,062 living Americans carry the first name Arien. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 58.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Arien today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arien births was 2013 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arien. 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 Arien with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Arien sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 322,744 Americans
Peak year
2013
55 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,239
Tracked since 1978
Census
Arien in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 936 people with the first name Arien, which placed it at #13,053 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
#13,053
National first-name rank
People counted
936
936 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arien
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arien is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Black (26.8%) and Hispanic (17.9%). 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 Arien 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 Arien at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.7% · 400
- Black or African American26.8% · 251
- Hispanic or Latino17.9% · 168
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.1% · 57
- Two or more races4.9% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 14
Gender
Gender distribution for Arien
Arien is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,088 total registrations, 632 (58.1%) were male and 456 (41.9%) were female.
Arien as a male name
- Ranked #5,239 in 2024
- 18 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (44 births)
Arien as a female name
- Ranked #12,295 in 2023
- 7 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1979 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Arien on both sides of the split. Of the 935 people counted with this name, 508 were male (54.3%) and 427 were female (45.7%).
Popularity
Arien: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arien from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 329 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arien 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 Arien during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ariens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Arien, while Ohio, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Arien
The name Arien is of Dutch origin, derived from the Old Dutch word "arend," which means "eagle." It first appeared in the Netherlands and surrounding regions during the Middle Ages, around the 12th to 13th centuries.
One of the earliest known uses of the name Arien can be found in historical records from the city of Amsterdam in the 14th century. It was relatively common among Dutch families during this period, often given to boys as a nod to the majestic and powerful eagle.
In the 16th century, the name gained further popularity due to its association with the Protestant Reformation. Arien van Haemstede, a Dutch theologian and reformer born in 1525, played a significant role in spreading Calvinism in the Netherlands. His influence helped solidify the name's standing among Protestant families.
Notable figures throughout history who bore the name Arien include Arien Vander Beken (1585-1653), a Flemish painter known for his religious and allegorical works. Another prominent individual was Arien Cornelis van Bijleveldt (1684-1745), a Dutch politician who served as the Lord of Voorburg and held various positions in the government of the Dutch Republic.
In the 19th century, Arien de Paauw (1825-1899) gained recognition as a Dutch jurist and politician. He served as the Minister of Justice and played a crucial role in shaping the legal system of the Netherlands during his tenure.
Moving into the 20th century, Arien van Hees (1912-1998) was a Dutch football player who represented the Netherlands national team and played for several prominent clubs in the country.
While the name Arien has Dutch roots, it has also been adopted in other regions, particularly in areas with strong Dutch cultural influences, such as South Africa and parts of North America. However, its usage remains primarily concentrated in the Netherlands and among Dutch communities worldwide.
People
Arien + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arien 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
Arien: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arien?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,062 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arien 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 322,744 US residents.
Is Arien a common name?
We classify Arien as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,088 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arien most popular?
The single biggest year for Arien was 2013, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arien is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arien in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 936 people with the name Arien, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,053 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 Arien 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 Arien?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Arien on both sides of the split. Of the 935 people counted with this name, 508 were male (54.3%) and 427 were female (45.7%). 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 Arien?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arien is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Black (26.8%) and Hispanic (17.9%). 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 Arien most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arien in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.7% (400 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 Arien in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arien a male name?
Yes, 58.1% of people registered as Arien 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 Arien still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arien 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 Arien 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 common is the name Arien?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Arien at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.