Edwin Edgerton Aiken (March 1, 1859 – January 5, 1951) was an American Congregationalist minister and author who spent over four decades as a missionary and educator in China. Born in Newington, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale University in 1881, where he was Phi Beta Kappa and a member of Skull and Bones. The following year he published The Secret Society System. While not naming Skull and Bones, he objected to the exclusiveness of societies and fraternities. He wrote: "Real friendship is not the result of formal compacts and societies; the spiritual bond is the true one, covenants of friendship are unnecessary, compacts are made for different ends."