The baby name Ahriman is a Male name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced /ɑːˈriːmən/ (AH-REE-mən),/ɑːˈrɪmən/ (ah-RIM-ən).
Ahriman is Persian in Origin.
The baby name Ahriman is a Male name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced /ɑːˈriːmən/ (AH-REE-mən),/ɑːˈrɪmən/ (ah-RIM-ən).
Ahriman is Persian in Origin.
Ahriman is the New Persian form (اهریمن; Middle Persian Ahrēman) of the Avestan Angra Mainyu, built from angra “destructive, hostile” and mainyu “spirit, mentality.” The meaning is “destructive spirit,” the cosmic opponent of Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrian dualism. In modern Persian, ahriman simply denotes “devil,” and in English it’s typically pronounced AH-ree-mahn. The name’s semantics are unequivocally negative within Iranian cultures.
As a result, it has not functioned as a traditional given name. It entered wider awareness via Pahlavi texts, classical references, and 19th‑century Orientalist scholarship, later spreading through literature, gaming, and occult or metal subcultures. Variants and related forms include Angra Mainyu (Avestan original), Ahrēman/Ahriman (Middle/New Persian), Arimanius or Areimanios (Greco‑Roman), and occasional spellings such as Ariman or Ehriman. Extremely rare in real-world naming, it carries a deliberately transgressive, mythic aura.
Ahriman is vanishingly rare. In all, it appears just 13 times, across 10 countries.
Based on birth registration data from national statistics agencies.
| Country | Gender | Year | Rank | Born | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BN | Boys | 0 | #139 | 1 | 6,332 |
| MO | Boys | 0 | #234 | 1 | 5,842 |
| TW | Boys | 0 | #256 | 1 | 7,111 |
| IR | Boys | 0 | #563 | 3 | 10,162 |
| IQ | Boys | 0 | #697 | 1 | 13,071 |
| SY | 0 | #767 | 1 | 11,684 | |
| CO | Boys | 0 | #980 | 2 | 15,656 |
| MA | 0 | #1,199 | 1 | 20,986 | |
| DZ | 0 | #1,234 | 1 | 20,130 | |
| TR | 0 | #1,254 | 1 | 19,440 |
Ahriman is popular in 10 countries — most recent births per country:
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