Aidan
Meaning
little fire; one of the biggest Irish-American breakout names of the 1990s-2000s
The story
Aidan comes from the Irish Aodhán, a diminutive built on the old word for fire, hence the tender translation little fire. The name's first great bearer was Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne, the seventh-century Irish monk who carried Christianity into northern England and was remembered for his gentleness. In America, Aidan was essentially unknown until the 1980s, then became one of the great Irish breakout stories: a steep climb through the 1990s to a towering peak in the 2000s, the very years Sex and the City gave the name a famously appealing bearer. The timing lines up, though the name's soft sound did plenty of work on its own. Its success spawned a whole chorus of rhyming spinoffs, and as those spread, Aidan itself has gently receded, still common, no longer everywhere.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Aidan peaked in the 2000s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
229 people · the #23,072 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 25
Among people named Aidan living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 31 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Aidan
Most people given the name Aidan in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Aidan deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Aidan truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Aidan fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Aidan travels
Irish · little fire, fiery one (Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne)
Keep exploring
Names like Aidan · Irish baby names · Irish American baby names
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