Etymology

From Hebrew אהרן (Ahărōn), possibly meaning "bearer of martyrs", or perhaps also, or instead, related to the Ancient Egyptian "aha rw" ("warrior lion", though it has been suggested to also mean "elevated", "exalted" or "high mountain").

Proper noun

1. (Judaism & Christianity) The elder brother of Moses in the Book of the Exodus.
2. .

Usage notes

The given name was exclusively Jewish in the Middle Ages, taken up by Gentiles in the 17th century, and popular in the end of the 20th century.

Quotations

:

• And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well.

• 1969 Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint, Random House, 2002, page 145:

  - - - the Junior Prom with boys whose names are right out of the grade-school reader, not Aaron and Arnold and Marvin, but Johnny and Billy and Jimmy and Tod. Not Portnoy or Pincus, but Smith and Jones and Brown!