Aydin
An Arabic given name meaning "enlightened" or "bright".
Name Census estimates that about 6,486 living Americans carry the first name Aydin. It is a predominantly male name (96.9% of registrations). The average person named Aydin today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aydin births was 2008 (414 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aydin. 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 Aydin with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Aydin is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 205 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Aydin is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
6.5K
~ 1 in 52,845 Americans
Peak year
2008
414 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,218
Tracked since 1984
Census
Aydin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,137 people with the first name Aydin, which placed it at #3,836 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
#3,836
National first-name rank
People counted
5.1K
5,137 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aydin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aydin is White at 52.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.8%). 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 Aydin 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 Aydin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.4% · 2,694
- Hispanic or Latino12.9% · 664
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.8% · 657
- Black or African American10.7% · 549
- Two or more races10.4% · 536
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 37
Gender
Gender distribution for Aydin
Aydin leans heavily male at 96.9% of total registrations, but 205 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Aydin as a male name
- Ranked #1,218 in 2024
- 165 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (393 births)
Aydin as a female name
- Ranked #13,684 in 2020
- 6 female births in 2020
- Peak: 2009 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aydin leans strongly male. 4,928 people counted with this name were male (95.9%), compared with 213 female bearers (4.1%).
Popularity
Aydin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aydin from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,126 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Aydin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aydin 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 Aydin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aydins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Aydin, while Mississippi, West Virginia, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 140 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aydin
The name Aydin has its origins in the Turkish language and culture. It is derived from the Turkish word "aydin," which means "enlightened" or "luminous." The name is believed to have been in use since the early days of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over parts of modern-day Turkey, the Balkans, and the Middle East from the 13th to the early 20th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Aydin can be found in the writings of the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi. In his famous work, the Masnavi, Rumi mentions an individual named Aydin, though little is known about this person's life or background.
Throughout the centuries, several notable figures have borne the name Aydin. One of the most prominent was Aydin Sayili (1913-1993), a renowned Turkish historian of science and philosophy. Sayili is best known for his groundbreaking work on the history of science in the Islamic world, which helped shed light on the important contributions made by Muslim scholars during the medieval period.
Another significant figure was Aydin Aritan (1932-2007), a Turkish politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey from 1983 to 1987. Aritan played a crucial role in shaping Turkey's foreign policy during a period of regional instability and was widely respected for his diplomatic skills.
In the field of literature, Aydin Hikremetler (1920-1987) was a prominent Turkish poet and novelist. His works explored themes of love, loss, and the human condition, and he is considered one of the most influential figures in modern Turkish literature.
Moving to the realm of sports, Aydin Yilmaz (born 1968) is a former Turkish professional basketball player who enjoyed a successful career in both Turkey and Europe. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Turkish basketball players of all time and was a key member of the Turkish national team for over a decade.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Aydin throughout history. The name's enduring popularity in Turkey and the Turkish diaspora is a testament to its rich cultural heritage and the positive connotations associated with its meaning of "enlightenment" and "luminosity."
People
Aydin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aydin 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
Aydin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aydin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,486 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aydin 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 52,845 US residents.
Is Aydin a common name?
We classify Aydin as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,545 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aydin most popular?
The single biggest year for Aydin was 2008, when 414 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aydin is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aydin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,137 people with the name Aydin, or 1.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,836 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 Aydin 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 Aydin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aydin leans strongly male. 4,928 people counted with this name were male (95.9%), compared with 213 female bearers (4.1%). 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 Aydin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aydin is White at 52.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.8%). 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 Aydin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Aydin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.4% (2,694 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 Aydin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aydin a male name?
Yes, 96.9% of people registered as Aydin 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 Aydin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aydin 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 Aydin 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 Aydin?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Aydin at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.