Aidan


Aidan, Aiden and Ayden are anglicised versions of the Irish male given name Aodhán. The Irish language female equivalent is Aodhnait.

Etymology and spelling

The name is derived from the name Aodhán, which is a pet form of Aodh. The personal name Aodh means "fiery" and/or "bringer of fire" and was the name of a Celtic sun god.
Formerly common only in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the name and its variants have become popular in England, the United States, Canada, and Australia. In the 2010s, Aiden rose to the 13th most popular name in the United States as the given name of 129,433 boys, while Aidan ranked 156th as the given name of 25,399 boys. In the 2000s, Aiden was 54th most popular name in the United States as the given name of 83,527 boys while Aidan ranked 55th having been bestowed on 76,493 boys. Other variants are less popular, such as Hayden 87th, Ayden 156th, Aden 333rd, Aydan 808th, and Aydin 960th, according to the United States Social Security Database. "Aidan/Aiden" was the most popular boys' name in Canada in 2007. Aiden was the 38th most popular name given to boys in Canada in 2022.
Its popularity is also reflected in the occurrence of similar-sounding names such as Braden, Caden, Hayden, and Jayden.
Aidan as a girl's name does not appear in the top one thousand names for girls from the same database, although it has occasionally been used for girls.

Notable people with the given name

Middle Ages

Arts and entertainment