Aslan is the Turkish word for "lion" — a name used across the Turkic world as both a given name and a surname — that became globally known through C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, in which Aslan is the great lion who serves as the series' central divine figure. Ranked #1046 with a 2024 peak and just 1,439 SSA records, Aslan is arriving in American naming with a very particular kind of cultural gravity.
Turkish Lion Etymology
The Turkic arslan (lion) — also spelled Aslan, Arslan, or Azlan — has been used as a name across Central Asia and the Middle East since at least the medieval period. Alp Arslan (1029–1072) was the Seljuk Sultan whose victory at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 reshaped the medieval world. The Turkish variant Aslan is still common as a given name in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and among Central Asian Turkish-speaking communities. Turkish names with this kind of cross-continental history carry a richness that purely invented names can't match.
C.S. Lewis and Narnia
C.S. Lewis chose the name Aslan deliberately, having learned that it meant "lion" in Turkish. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) and throughout the Narnia series, Aslan functions as an explicitly Christ-like figure, sacrificial, resurrecting, sovereign. That theological dimension gives the name layered meaning for Christian families while remaining accessible to anyone who simply loves the literary character and the sound. The 2024 peak suggests a new generation of Narnia readers and film viewers discovering the name. The 2020s have seen several literary names resurface through streaming adaptations.
Counter-Reading: The Fantasy First Association
For most Americans, Aslan means the Narnia lion first and everything else second. That's an enormous literary legacy to attach to a child, one that invites comparison and comment throughout their life. Browse Leo or Leon for the same lion meaning in less culturally loaded forms.