Aaron - Origin and Meaning of the name

The boy name Aaron [ 2 syll. aa-ron, aar-on ] is pronounced as EHRahN ^KEY. Aaron is largely used in the English, German, Hebrew, and Polish languages, and its origin is Hebrew. Aaron has the meaning enlightened, exalted, mountain of strength. Biblical name derived from the element 'aharon' which means enlightened. Aharon (Hebrew) is an original form of Aaron. The origin of the name is obscure; it could be Egyptian like the name Moses. The Hebrew meaning 'mountain of strength' is of folk origins. In the Bible, Aaron was the older brother of Moses. Aaron was appointed by God to be Moses' spokesman, and became the first high priest of the Israelites. The name was rarely used before the Reformation. In the 17th century, it was taken up by the Puritans, and has been somewhat more common among Jews than Christians. The name also appeared as the evil Aaron the Moor in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus (1590-1594). It also known from Aaron's Rod, the nickname of the flower Verbascum thapsus, a plant with yellow flower clusters, in reference to the biblical account of the blossomming of Aaron's rod. The name Aaren (English) is the female equivalent of Aaron.

Aaron has 23 variants that are used in both English and other languages. Variants of Aaron used in English include Aaran, Aaren, Aarron, Arend (used in German too), Ari (used in Hebrew, Bengali, Indian, and Greek too), Arn (used in Yiddish too), Arnie, Arny, Arran (used in Scottish too), Arron, Ehren, and Erin. The short form Ron, the pet forms Ronnie and Ronny, and the variant spelling Aron (used in German, Hebrew, and Polish too) are other English forms.

Foreign variants of Aaron include Aarón (Spanish), Aharon (Hebrew), Áron (Hungarian), Eron (Spanish), Haroun (Arabic), and Harun (Arabic). Another foreign variant is the pet form Arke (Yiddish).

Aaron is popular as a baby name for boys. The name's popularity jumped from the 1940s up to the 1980s. Its usage peaked in 1981 with 0.789% of baby boys being given the name Aaron. Its ranking then was #30. The baby name has since experienced a fall in popularity. In 2007, its usage was 0.402% and its ranking #52, but it was nonetheless the most popular among all boy names in its group. In 2007, Aaron was used 19 times more than the next ranked name, Ari (English, Hebrew, Bengali, Indian, and Greek). Aaron has predominantly been a boy name, though in the past century it has also been used for girls. In 1983, boys named Aaron outnumbered girls by 80 times.

Baby names that sound like Aaron include Aarón (Spanish), Aeron (Welsh), Aran (Scottish), Aron (English, German, Hebrew, and Polish), Áron (Hungarian), Ehren (English), Eren (Turkish), Aram (English and German), Arran (English and Scottish), Erin (English), Ermin (German), Erwin (German), Irwin (English), Ariyan (Albanian), Ermanno (Italian), Erwan (Breton), and Erminio (Italian).

^KEY: Pronunciation for Aaron: EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"

Details of famous persons named Aaron:
Biblical Figure Aaron.
Cartoonist Aaron McGruder, born 29 May 1974, Chicago, Illinois.
Singer Aaron Carter, born 7 December 1987, Tampa, Florida.
U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr, born 6 February 1756 - 14 September 1836, Newark, New Jersey.

Popularity Trend
for Aaron
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Aaron
in 2007