Aris
Masculine name of Greek origin meaning "excellent" or "the best".
Name Census estimates that about 4,061 living Americans carry the first name Aris. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 59.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Aris today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aris births was 2024 (199 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aris. 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 Aris with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Aris sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
4.1K
~ 1 in 84,401 Americans
Peak year
2024
199 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,513
Tracked since 1914
Census
Aris in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,156 people with the first name Aris, which placed it at #4,477 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
#4,477
National first-name rank
People counted
4.2K
4,156 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
36.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aris
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aris is White at 36.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.1%) and Black (17.2%). 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 Aris 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 Aris at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White36.8% · 1,531
- Hispanic or Latino30.1% · 1,253
- Black or African American17.2% · 713
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.8% · 406
- Two or more races5.6% · 232
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 21
Gender
Gender distribution for Aris
Aris is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 4,381 total registrations, 2,607 (59.5%) were male and 1,774 (40.5%) were female.
Aris as a male name
- Ranked #1,513 in 2024
- 117 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (117 births)
Aris as a female name
- Ranked #2,263 in 2024
- 82 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (86 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Aris on both sides of the split. Of the 4,157 people counted with this name, 2,591 were male (62.3%) and 1,566 were female (37.7%).
Popularity
Aris: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aris from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,142 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aris remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aris 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 Aris during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aris' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Aris, while Indiana, Arizona, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 90 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aris
Aris is a name with roots dating back to ancient Greece. It is derived from the Greek word "aristos," which means "the best" or "excellent." The name was popular in ancient Greek culture, where excellence and virtue were highly valued.
In Greek mythology, there are several notable figures with the name Aris or variations of it. One example is Ariston, the son of the legendary king Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Another is Aristaeus, a minor deity associated with agriculture, hunting, and beekeeping.
The name Aris gained wider recognition during the Hellenistic period, which began in the 4th century BCE. It was a popular name among philosophers, scholars, and artists of that era. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Aristarchus of Samos, a Greek astronomer who proposed the heliocentric theory, suggesting that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
In the Byzantine Empire, which lasted from the 4th to the 15th century CE, the name Aris was often used in royal and noble circles. Notable examples include Aris Philanthropenos, a prominent Byzantine nobleman and military leader who lived in the 11th century, and Aris Doukas Kamateros, a Byzantine aristocrat and courtier from the 12th century.
During the Renaissance period, the name Aris experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly among humanist scholars and artists who were inspired by ancient Greek culture. One of the most notable figures from this time was Aris Tzetzes, a 12th-century Byzantine scholar and writer who produced commentaries on ancient Greek literature.
In more recent history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Aris. Aris Velouchiotis was a Greek communist revolutionary and leader of the Greek Resistance during World War II. Aris Konstantinidis was a renowned Greek architect and urban planner who made significant contributions to the modern development of Athens in the 20th century. Aris San, born in 1940, is a Greek-French singer and actor known for his contributions to the French pop music scene.
People
Aris + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aris 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
Aris: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aris?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,061 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aris 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 84,401 US residents.
Is Aris a common name?
We classify Aris as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,381 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aris most popular?
The single biggest year for Aris was 2024, when 199 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aris is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aris in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,156 people with the name Aris, or 1.38 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,477 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 Aris 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 Aris?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Aris on both sides of the split. Of the 4,157 people counted with this name, 2,591 were male (62.3%) and 1,566 were female (37.7%). 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 Aris?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aris is White at 36.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.1%) and Black (17.2%). 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 Aris most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aris in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.8% (1,531 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 Aris in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aris a male name?
Yes, 59.5% of people registered as Aris 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 Aris still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aris 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 Aris 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 Aris?
Want to know how many Americans are named Aris? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.