Ares hit a fresh peak in 2024 at rank 295, the most recent SSA cutoff, with 7,120 cumulative American boys on record. The chart line shows essentially zero pre-2010 use followed by a steep climb through the past decade, and the still-rising trajectory suggests Ares has not yet reached its modern American ceiling. Few American boy names carry as direct a mythological-violence association as Ares does, and the modern climb depends on parents picking the name despite that association rather than because of it.
The Greek god of war
Ares comes from Greek Ares, the name of the Olympian god of war, particularly the chaotic and violent aspects of warfare (as distinct from Athena's strategic and disciplined martial wisdom). The etymology of Ares itself is uncertain, possibly from a Pre-Greek substrate language, with the literal meaning lost to time. In Greek mythology Ares is among the more morally ambiguous Olympians, often portrayed as bloodthirsty and unpopular even with his fellow gods.
The Roman counterpart Mars carried a more positive cultural valence (associated with agriculture as well as war), and the Mars name has been in continuous Italian use across centuries. Ares as a given name, by contrast, has been almost completely absent from European naming traditions until very recently. The 21st-century American climb is essentially a fresh adoption of the mythological name without traditional given-name precedent.
The mythology-revival cohort
Ares sits inside the cluster of Greek and Roman mythological names that have climbed in American naming since 2010: Atlas, Apollo, Orion, and Zeus share the bold-mythology register and the post-2010 American emergence. The cluster appeals to families who want confident-mythology naming without the religious-Christian anchoring of biblical names. The Percy Jackson book and film series (2005 onward) helped normalize Greek mythology among younger American audiences.
Pop-culture visibility for Ares has been distributed: the DC Comics Wonder Woman antagonist, the God of War video game franchise (which became a major hit starting in 2005), and various other media bearers have given the name a rising background presence without a single dominant anchor.
The counter-reading
The honest concern with Ares is the meaning-load. The name explicitly invokes the god of violent warfare, with mythological attributes that include cruelty, bloodlust, and moral failings. Some parents read this as bold and strong; others find it presumptuous or off-putting to attach to a baby. The Greek-origin cluster places Ares among related options.