Aven
Arabic name meaning river, stream or valley.
Name Census estimates that about 4,238 living Americans carry the first name Aven. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 62.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Aven today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aven births was 2012 (316 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aven. 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 Aven with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Aven sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Aven is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.2K
~ 1 in 80,876 Americans
Peak year
2012
316 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,154
Tracked since 1921
Census
Aven in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,316 people with the first name Aven, which placed it at #5,239 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
#5,239
National first-name rank
People counted
3.3K
3,316 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aven
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aven is White at 60.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.0%) and Black (9.2%). 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 Aven 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 Aven at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.5% · 2,005
- Hispanic or Latino17.0% · 564
- Black or African American9.2% · 304
- Two or more races8.0% · 266
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 129
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 48
Gender
Gender distribution for Aven
Aven is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 4,297 total registrations, 2,691 (62.6%) were male and 1,606 (37.4%) were female.
Aven as a male name
- Ranked #1,154 in 2024
- 181 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (182 births)
Aven as a female name
- Ranked #2,923 in 2024
- 56 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (141 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Aven on both sides of the split. Of the 3,311 people counted with this name, 1,928 were male (58.2%) and 1,383 were female (41.8%).
Popularity
Aven: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aven from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,403 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aven remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aven 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 Aven during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Avens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Aven, while Oklahoma, New Jersey, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 72 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aven
The name Aven is believed to have originated from the Welsh language, derived from the word "avon," which means "river" or "stream." This suggests that the name may have been historically associated with people living near rivers or water bodies in Wales or other parts of the British Isles.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Aven can be found in the Welsh Triads, a collection of traditional Welsh folklore and literature dating back to the Middle Ages. In these texts, Aven is mentioned as the name of a legendary figure, though the specifics of the story have been lost to time.
During the Renaissance period, the name Aven appeared in several literary works, particularly in the writings of English poets and playwrights. For instance, William Shakespeare used the name Aven as a character in his play "The Two Gentlemen of Verona," which was written around 1594.
In the 17th century, Aven Ezra (1573-1638) was a notable Jewish philosopher and theologian who lived in Italy. He wrote extensively on Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, making significant contributions to the field of Jewish thought during his time.
Another historical figure bearing the name Aven was Aven Nelson (1859-1952), an American botanist and plant collector who was instrumental in documenting the flora of the western United States. He worked extensively in the Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin region, and several plant species were named in his honor.
In more recent history, Aven Mindren (1917-1990) was a Canadian artist and illustrator known for his vivid depictions of rural life and landscapes. His works are celebrated for capturing the essence of the Canadian wilderness and the people who lived in harmony with nature.
While the name Aven may not be as common today as it once was, it carries a rich historical legacy, reflecting its origins in Welsh language and culture, as well as its appearances in literature, philosophy, and the natural sciences throughout the centuries.
People
Aven + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aven 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
Aven: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aven?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,238 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aven 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 80,876 US residents.
Is Aven a common name?
We classify Aven as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,297 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aven most popular?
The single biggest year for Aven was 2012, when 316 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aven is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aven in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,316 people with the name Aven, or 1.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,239 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 Aven 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 Aven?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Aven on both sides of the split. Of the 3,311 people counted with this name, 1,928 were male (58.2%) and 1,383 were female (41.8%). 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 Aven?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aven is White at 60.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.0%) and Black (9.2%). 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 Aven most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aven in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.5% (2,005 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 Aven in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aven a male name?
Yes, 62.6% of people registered as Aven 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 Aven still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aven 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 Aven 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 Americans are named Aven?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.