Baby Name of the Day: Aria

Musical baby name Aria has soared to the top of the popularity charts in recent years.

Thanks to Jen for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

WHAT DOES THE NAME ARIA MEAN?

In Italian, aria means air, but not exactly the air that we breathe. Think of air in the musical sense – a melody. It still comes from the Latin word aer. 

It’s a piece of music typically – though not exclusively – included in an opera. An aria is, broadly, an elaborate vocal solo. That takes this name towards the high arts, a different vibe compared to, say, folsky Banjo or rock-and-roll Drummer.

Parents love a good musical word name these days, so it’s no surprise to hear the baby name Aria in use. But does the name pre-date our 21st century noun name craze?

Very possibly yes.

HOW DOES NICKNAME ARI FIT IN?

Let’s start with Ari.

It’s used as an independent name, and a name element, too. Ari means lion in Hebrew and eagle in Old Norse.

It’s possibly to understand Aria as a feminine form of Ari, meaning female eagle or lioness.

The goddess Athena sometimes answered to the epithet Areia, as in Ares – ruin. We think of Athena as the source of wisdom, but she also served as a warrior goddess, a master strategist and commander.

The baby name Aria also sounds something like Ariadne, another name from Greek mythology. There’s a Saint Ariadne, too, a slave and Christian convert in second century Rome. After she refused to worship the pagan gods of her masters, she fled – and it’s said that the earth swallowed her whole.

While Ariadne is seldom heard today, the related Ariana – one ‘n’ and two – have been very popular in the 21st century.

Technically, none of these are related to the baby name Aria, but they share very similar sounds.

GENDER-NEUTRAL NAME

One more origin for Aria: the Indo-Iranian Aryan, meaning noble.

Arya – with a Y – is a unisex name in India, as well as elsewhere in the east. 

FAMOUS FICTIONAL ARIAS

WESTEROS

The most famous Arya-with-a-Y is Arya Stark.

In 1996, the year George RR Martin’s first Game of Thrones novel debuted, there were eleven girls named Arya.

The television series Game of Thrones debuted in 2011.

Martin’s character starts out as the youngest daughter of the House of Stark, played to perfection by Maisie Williams in the HBO adaptation. She’s far more interested in learning to fight with her brothers than practicing needlework with her older sister Sansa.

Across the show’s long run, Arya finds her own way, and becomes a strong – and occasionally ruthless – leader.

ROSEWOOD

There’s also Lucy Hale’s character on Pretty Little Liars, the lovely and well-traveled Aria Montgomery. Based on a successful novel series, the television show ran from 2010 to 2017. 

Set in fictional Rosewood, the ABC Family drama follows a group of friends after one of them has disappeared – but may not be gone for good. The mystery drew in viewers, and the show eventually delivered a happy ending – at least for Aria.

MORE ARIAS

The baby name Aria isn’t always a person’s name.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy challenged the United States to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. In 1969, Apollo 11 did just that. The Apollo Range Instrumentation Aircraft (ARIA) was part of the program’s success. These special aircraft allowed NASA to track their missions without being bound to special ground stations. The program was renamed the Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft – still ARIA – and continued to support future missions. 

You might also think of:

• American actress Aria Curzon, also known as the voice of Ducky in animated adventure The Land Before Time. 
• American water polo player Aria Fischer won gold for the United States in 2016 and 2020. She was the youngest female team sport athlete in US history to win gold at a Summer Olympics.
• Japanese manga ARIA is sometimes also called AQUA, set in the city of NeoVenezia on a terraformed planet Mars. Another series is known as Aria the Scarlet Ammo, a series that starts in a school for elite detective warrior candidates.

HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME ARIA?

As early as 1900, five newborn girls received the name. Back in 1980, there were 33 babies named Aria. While rare, all of these historical references suggest that the name isn’t brand new.

During the 1980s, both Aria and Arya started to appear in the data as a boy’s name, too. 

In the year 2000, the baby name Aria debuted in the US Top 1000 at #957. It climbed steadily, reaching #19 in 2018. As of 2024, Aria still ranked an impressive #26.

Arya followed, entering the charts in 2010. As of 2024, Arya ranks #162.

Other similar names in the current US Top 1000 include:

• Ariah
• Ariya
• Ariyah

In most cases, they’re pronounced with three syllables, ahr-ee-uh, though it’s possible to imagine ah-RYE-uh, rhymes with Mariah, instead.

MUSCIAL and FIERCE

A melodic sound for a musical name, the baby name Aria blends our love of word names, fictional heroines, and flowing, liquid style.

It might be the perfect baby name for fans of opera, George RR Martin – or both. And it’s a thoroughly 21st century choice with plenty of history, too – making it a stand-out choice.

What do you think of the baby name Aria? 

Originally published on September 23, 2014, this post was revised on January 9, 2019 and March 3, 2026.