Ayden, a variant of the name Aiden and Anglicized form of the Irish name Aodhán, is ultimately derived from the Old Irish name Áedán, meaning "little fire." Aiden is the preferred spelling, but Ayden holds its own in the United States, debuting on the Social Security Administration's top 1,000 in 1999. It cracked the top 100 every year between 2008 and 2017, but hasn't seen the same consistency as Aiden has. Nonetheless, it's the name "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Phaedra Parks gave her son, Ayden Adonis, born in 2010.


