Head to head · Boys' names
Caiden vs Cassius
#602 vs #582 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Cassius is a whisker ahead (#582 vs #602 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Cassius leads 3 measures of 6; Caiden leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Caiden —, Cassius #691 — Cassius higher
- 1890s: Caiden —, Cassius #839 — Cassius higher
- 1900s: Caiden —, Cassius #1373 — Cassius higher
- 1910s: Caiden —, Cassius #2071 — Cassius higher
- 1920s: Caiden —, Cassius #2616 — Cassius higher
- 1930s: Caiden —, Cassius #3012 — Cassius higher
- 1940s: Caiden —, Cassius #2714 — Cassius higher
- 1950s: Caiden —, Cassius #3273 — Cassius higher
- 1960s: Caiden —, Cassius #1668 — Cassius higher
- 1970s: Caiden —, Cassius #2415 — Cassius higher
- 1980s: Caiden —, Cassius #2548 — Cassius higher
- 1990s: Caiden #3640, Cassius #2038 — Cassius higher
- 2000s: Caiden #521, Cassius #1375 — Caiden higher
- 2010s: Caiden #301, Cassius #721 — Caiden higher
- 2020s: Caiden #480, Cassius #542 — Caiden higher
Cassius stood higher in 12 of 15 decades; Caiden has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Caiden | Cassius |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #691 |
| 1890s | — | #839 |
| 1900s | — | #1373 |
| 1910s | — | #2071 |
| 1920s | — | #2616 |
| 1930s | — | #3012 |
| 1940s | — | #2714 |
| 1950s | — | #3273 |
| 1960s | — | #1668 |
| 1970s | — | #2415 |
| 1980s | — | #2548 |
| 1990s | #3640 | #2038 |
| 2000s | #521 | #1375 |
| 2010s | #301 | #721 |
| 2020s | #480 | #542 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Caiden
Not established
No meaning is established. Caiden has no history apart from Kaden and Caden, and the meanings offered for those online belong to other words and names.
Our story of Caiden — where the record runs out
Caiden is assembled from sounds English already loved. Its rhyme is the rhyme of Aiden and Braden.
Cassius
Most often read as "empty, hollow, vain," from Latin cassus
Two positions compete. The standard proposal links the family name to the Latin adjective cassus, "empty" or "hollow" — the same root behind words for something void. The other holds that Cassius, like many old Roman clan names, is simply older than Latin etymology can reach, an Italic family label whose sense was already lost by the Republic. Roman nomina were inherited, not chosen for meaning, so the family carried it for centuries without anyone taking it as a description.
Cassius (Roman nomen) → Cassianus → Cassian → Cassio
How it traveled
Cassius began as a Roman nomen, the name of the gens Cassia, a family present in Rome's records from the early Republic onward. Its best-known bearer, Gaius Cassius Longinus, joined the conspiracy against Julius Caesar in 44 BC — which is how the name reached English readers, first through Roman historians and then through Shakespeare, who gave Cassius some of the most quoted lines in Julius Caesar.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Caiden
KAY-den
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with Aiden.
Cassius
KASH-us
Two pronunciations circulate in American English: KASH-us, the more common, and the three-syllable KASS-ee-us, closer to the Latin KAS-see-oos. Both are correct; families generally pick one and repeat it.
- Cass — The default short form, used for boys and girls alike; also given on its own as a full name.
- Cash — An informal shortening that has grown alongside Cash as an independent given name for boys.
- Cas — A spelling variant of the same short form, more common in writing than in speech.
- Cassie — Heard occasionally, though in the US it attaches far more often to Cassandra and Cassidy, and reads as feminine to most ears.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Caiden if you want…
- a name fewer children share#602 in 2025 — caiden will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name past its most crowded yearsCaiden is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesCaiden is 2 syllables to Cassius's 3
- a name that stays wholeno recorded short form for Caiden
Choose Cassius if you want…
- a name most people already know#582 in 2025, 504 babies that year
- a name with more sound in itCassius runs 3 syllables, Caiden 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Cass, Cash and Cas
- a long American recordCassius was already in use when US records began in 1880
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Caiden
Strengths
- Easy to say and instantly placed in the familiar Aiden rhyme.
- Two syllables that sit well with most surnames.
- The C spelling sets it apart from the many K spellings of the same sound.
To consider
- The sound has many spellings, so others will write Kaden, Kayden or Caden, and it will need spelling out for life.
- A reader who knows Welsh, or the name Kai, may try KY-den at first.
- The rhyme was everywhere for a time, so the name will date to that period. A few girls are recorded with this spelling; for them it will read as a boy's name.
Cassius
Strengths
- An unbroken written record from the Roman Republic to the present, so the spelling is already familiar to anyone who has read Shakespeare or Roman history.
- Two established one-syllable short forms, Cass and Cash, both in genuine use.
- Recognizable across Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Polish in forms close enough that the name survives a border.
To consider
- The pronunciation genuinely splits: KASH-us and KASS-ee-us are both in use, so he will correct people, or be corrected, throughout his life. Choosing one early and using it consistently is most of the fix.
- The leading etymology, Latin cassus, means "empty" or "hollow" — an unappealing reading if a meaning matters to you, though Roman families inherited such names without ever treating them as descriptions.
- The strongest historical association is with the conspirator who helped kill Caesar, and Shakespeare's portrait of him is not flattering. Most people recall the name before the plot, but some readers will make the link.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Caiden and Cassius in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Caiden and Cassius?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Names ranked #601–1000: known, but barely shared
- Names far more common than their rank admits
- Victorian names ready for a second century
- Hero and god names for boys
- all guides
Where Caiden and Cassius each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Caiden or Cassius — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Caiden or Cassius?
- Cassius, in 2025: Cassius ranked #582 with 504 babies; Caiden ranked #602 with 475 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Caiden or Cassius?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Caiden moved down 219 places; Cassius moved down 94 places.
- Which is the older name, Caiden or Cassius?
- Caiden entered the US charts in 1990; Cassius was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Cassius is the older name.
- How many people are named Caiden and Cassius?
- About 23,000 people named Caiden are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 9,200 people named Cassius are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Caidens or Cassiuss in the classroom?
- Caiden will almost certainly be the only one in school. Cassius will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Caiden, Cassius and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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