Aiden is a spelling of the Irish Aidan, from the Gaelic Aodhán, a diminutive of Aodh, the name of a Celtic sun god, and means "little fire" or "fiery one". Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne spread Christianity in northern England in the 7th century. The spelling Aiden barely registered at number 324 in the United States in 2000 and then surged, reaching the top 100 in 2003 and number nine in 2010; it spawned a whole family of rhyming names such as Jayden and Brayden and ranks number 62 among boys in 2025.