boy's name
Aidan
AY-dan
- Origin Irish
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 170,743
the United States
#326
2025 births
Aidan is a boy's name of Irish origin meaning "little fire," from Aodh, the name of a fire god. It ranks 82nd in Ireland and 326th in the United States, and it is falling from a peak our records place in 2003.
- Aidan is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in 2003, when 10,296 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 3,154 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1936.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Aidan over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1930s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1930s | 5 |
| 1950s | 21 |
| 1960s | 71 |
| 1970s | 185 |
| 1980s | 595 |
| 1990s | 9,395 |
| 2000s | 78,126 |
| 2010s | 25,733 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 7,027 |
What Aidan means
Aidan means little fire, or little fiery one. The root Aodh was itself both a common personal name and the name of a fire deity, so the diminutive describes someone associated with fire rather than merely small.
Where Aidan comes from
Aidan anglicizes the Irish Aodhán, a diminutive of Aodh, from an older Aed meaning fire. Aed was a god in pre-Christian Irish religion and among the most common of all early Irish personal names, borne by dozens of kings. Its saint is Aidan of Lindisfarne, an Irish monk sent from Iona at the request of King Oswald of Northumbria in 635, who founded the monastery on Lindisfarne and evangelized the north of England — Bede, writing a century later and disagreeing with him about the dating of Easter, still praises him at length. Aidan was revived in the twentieth century and became genuinely international in the 1990s and 2000s, which produced the American respellings Aiden, Ayden and Jayden that now far outnumber it there.
Aidan in use
Aidan ranks 82nd in Ireland with 72 births in 2025 and 326th in the United States with 1,051 births, its largest absolute market by some distance. It is falling in our data from a peak in 2003, and in America that decline is partly a spelling shift toward Aiden rather than a decline in the sound. Our records carry it from 1936.
How popular is Aidan?
In 2025, Aidan was given to 1,051 babies in the United States, ranking #326 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Aidan is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Aidan is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Aïdan | Aïdan is Aidan written with a diaeresis, used in France, where it ranks #1,859. | 975 |
Names that peaked alongside Aidan
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Aidan also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Aidan over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Aidan in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Aidan
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Aidan — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Aidan
What does the name Aidan mean?
Aidan means "little fire," from the Irish Aodh, which was both a common name and the name of a fire god.
Is Aidan or Aiden the correct spelling?
Aidan is the traditional anglicization. Aiden is an American respelling that now outnumbers it in the United States.
Who was Saint Aidan?
An Irish monk from Iona who founded the monastery at Lindisfarne in 635 and evangelized Northumbria.
How popular is Aidan?
Eighty-second in Ireland and 326th in the United States.
Is Aidan a girl's or a boy's name?
Aidan is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Aidan?
Aidan has 2 syllables.
Is Aidan a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Aidan currently ranks #82 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.