Aidan

Aidan is an Irish given name, a diminutive of Aodh and usually translated into English as "little fiery one" or similar. Formerly common only in Ireland, the name (together with variants) has become popular in the United Kingdom and United States of America. "Aidan" is currently the 54th most popular name in the United States since the start of the year 2000, bestowed on over 62,000 boys. Other variants are less popular, with "Aiden" the 66th most popular, "Hayden" the 88th, "Ayden" the 189th, "Aden" the 333rd, "Aydan" the 808th and "Aydin" the 960th, according to the [http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/decades/names2000s.html United States Social Security Database] .

Its popularity is also reflected in the occurrence of similar-sounding names such as Braden, Caden, Hayden, and Jaden. [Rosenkrantz, Linda, and Satran, Pamela Redmond (2007). "The Baby Name Bible". St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 978-0-312-35220-2, p. 343]

"Adan" is the Spanish language form of Adam, but may be used by non-Hispanics as an alternative spelling for "Aidan". "Adan" was the 348th most popular boys' name in the database.

"Aidan" (or any reasonable variant) as a girl's name does not appear in the top 1000 names for girls from the same database, though it has occasionally been used for girls.

Some sources suggest that the feminine equivalent of Aidan is Eithne, which has the same meaning [Macleod, Iseabail and Freedman, Terry: "The Wordsworth Dictionary of First Names", Wordsworth Editions, 1995, ISBN 1853263664, p.74.] .

Used on its own, Aidan usually refers to Aidan of Lindisfarne. However, the name may refer to:

Historical figures

* Áedán mac Gabráin (ruled c. 574-609), King of Dál Riata, sometimes anglicised as "Aidan of Dalriada".
* Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne (d. 651) a missionary who restored Christianity to Northumbria.
* Saint Aidan of Llawhaden (c.550-626), known, in Ireland, as "Maedoc" or "Mogue", an Irish Saint who studied in Wales before establishing the monastery of Ferns, County Wexford.

Current figures

* Aidan Baker, a Canadian musician.
* Aidan Banks, a guitarist.
* Aidan Barclay, an English businessman.
* Aidan Barton, child actor and son of film editor Roger Barton.
* Aidan Browne, a Northern Ireland TV presenter.
* Aidan Chambers, an English author.
* Aidan Cooney, an Irish television presenter.
* Aidan J. David, an English actor.
* Aidan Delgado, a US anti-war activist.
* Aidan Dowling, an Irish cartoonist.
* Aidan Gillen, an Irish actor, whose real name is Aidan Murphy.
* Aidan Girt, a Canadian drummer.
* Aidan Gonzales, an American child actor.
* Aidan Gould, an American child actor.
* Aidan Hartley, an author and journalist.
* Aidan Higgins, an Irish writer.
* Aidan Hughes, an English artist.
* Aidan Kelly, an American Wiccan.
* Aidan McArdle, an Irish actor.
* Aidan Mitchell, an Irish-American actor.
* Aidan Moffat, a Scottish musician.
* Aidan Nichols, an English academic and priest.
* Aidan O'Donnell, an American child actor.
* Aidan Quinn, an Irish-American actor.
* Aidan Teasley, a Minneapolis musician.
* Aidan White, a journalist.
* Aidan Zammit, a Maltese musician.
* Aidan Fischer, baby model for pampers diapers

Aidan as a surname

* Christopher Aidan, an American musician.
* Pamela Aidan, an American author.

porting figures

* Aidan Collins,an English footballer.
* Aidan Daly, a New Zealand basketball player.
* Aidan Davison, an English professional footballer.
* Aidan Downes, an Irish footballer.
* Aidan Fennelly, an Irish gaelic football player.
* Aidan Fogarty, b. 1958, an Irish hurling player.
* Aidan Fogarty, b. 1982, an Irish hurling player.
* Aidan Kearney, an Irish hurling player.
* Aidan Kirk, a New Zealand rugby player.
* Aidan McCaffrey, an English football club manager.
* Aidan McGeady, an Irish footballer.
* Aidan Murphy, an English-born soccer trainer working in the USA.
* Aidan Lynch, an Irish footballer.
* Aidan Newhouse, an English footballer.
* Aidan O'Brien, an Irish horse-racing trainer.
* Aidan O'Kane a Northern Irish footballer.
* Aidan O'Keefe, an Irish footballer.
* Aidan O'Mahony, an Irish gaelic football player.
* Aidan Price, an Irish footballer.

Deceased figures

* Aidan Crawley, (1908-1993), a British politician.
* Francis Aidan Gasquet, (1846-1929), an English cardinal.
* John Aidan Liddell, (1888-1915), an English pilot and recipient of the Victoria Cross.
* Aidan McAnespie, (1965-1988) an Irish victim of The Troubles.

Fictional figures

* Aidan, a fictional character in the computer game "Guild Wars".
* Aidan Bok, a fictional character from the novel "" by John Whitman.
* Aidan Brosnan, a fictional character played by Sean Maguire in the serial drama "East Enders".
* Aidan Devane, a fictional character played by Aiden Turner in the American daytime serial "All My Children".
* Aidan of Gwynedd, a fictional character from the Deryni novels by Katherine Kurtz.
* Aidan Haldane, another fictional character from the Deryni novels by Katherine Kurtz.
* Aidan Kerrigan, a fictional character from the novel "The Jem Star" by Karen Drury.
* Aidan Lynch, a fictional character from the novel "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" by J.K. Rowling.
* Aidan Savage, a fictional character from the novel "Dark Gold" by Christine Feehan
* Aidan Shaw, a fictional character played by John Corbett in the serial drama "Sex and the City".

Places of worship

* Church of St. Aidan, Toronto, Canada.
* St. Aidan's Church, Leeds, UK.

Educational establishments

* St. Aidan's Anglican Girls' School, in Queensland, Australia.
* St. Aidan's Christian Brothers School, in Dublin, Ireland.
* St. Aidan's College, part of the University of Durham, UK.
* St. Aidan's Church of England High School, in Harrogate, UK.
* St. Aidan's Roman Catholic School, in Sunderland, UK.

Other uses

* "Aidan", the title of episode 8 of the serial drama "The Inside".

ee also

*Aiden (given name), for names with the spelling "Aiden".
*Aden, for pages related to the spelling "Aden".
*Hayden, for names with the spelling "Hayden".

References