Head to head · Boys' names
Dallas vs Kaiden
#238 vs #237 in 2025
Kaiden is a whisker ahead (#237 vs #238 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Kaiden is stepping back from its peak, Dallas is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Dallas has the edge.
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
The tape is even: Dallas and Kaiden each lead 3 measures of 6.
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: Dallas #363, Kaiden — — Dallas higher
- 1890s: Dallas #335, Kaiden — — Dallas higher
- 1900s: Dallas #321, Kaiden — — Dallas higher
- 1910s: Dallas #338, Kaiden — — Dallas higher
- 1920s: Dallas #292, Kaiden — — Dallas higher
- 1930s: Dallas #264, Kaiden — — Dallas higher
- 1940s: Dallas #297, Kaiden — — Dallas higher
- 1950s: Dallas #363, Kaiden — — Dallas higher
- 1960s: Dallas #436, Kaiden — — Dallas higher
- 1970s: Dallas #421, Kaiden — — Dallas higher
- 1980s: Dallas #346, Kaiden — — Dallas higher
- 1990s: Dallas #279, Kaiden #2370 — Dallas higher
- 2000s: Dallas #343, Kaiden #377 — Dallas higher
- 2010s: Dallas #292, Kaiden #143 — Kaiden higher
- 2020s: Dallas #254, Kaiden #181 — Kaiden higher
Dallas stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Kaiden has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Dallas | Kaiden |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #363 | — |
| 1890s | #335 | — |
| 1900s | #321 | — |
| 1910s | #338 | — |
| 1920s | #292 | — |
| 1930s | #264 | — |
| 1940s | #297 | — |
| 1950s | #363 | — |
| 1960s | #436 | — |
| 1970s | #421 | — |
| 1980s | #346 | — |
| 1990s | #279 | #2370 |
| 2000s | #343 | #377 |
| 2010s | #292 | #143 |
| 2020s | #254 | #181 |
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
Dallas
most likely 'meadow dwelling' or 'meadow by the waterfall'
The Scottish place name behind it is read two ways. One reading takes it from Brythonic or Pictish elements meaning roughly 'meadow' and 'dwelling'; the other from Gaelic dail ('meadow, haugh') with eas ('waterfall'). Both point at low green ground beside water, which is why the two readings sit together comfortably rather than canceling each other out.
Dallas (lands in Moray, Scotland) → Dolays (medieval Scottish surname) → Dallas (Scottish surname) → Dallas (given name)
How it traveled
The lands of Dallas lie in Moray, and by the medieval period a family had taken their name from them, appearing in Scottish records in forms such as Dolays before settling into the modern spelling. Emigration carried the surname to North America, where — as happened to Scottish surnames generally — it began to be handed out as a first name.
Kaiden
Not established
No established etymology. Popular name books have offered readings like "fighter" or "companion", but neither traces to a documented source. What is documented is the company it keeps: Caden and its respellings emerged in American use within a cluster of rhyming names, and the older names it echoes do have clear roots — Aiden from Irish Aodhán, Hayden and Braden from British and Irish surnames. Kaiden's own origin is simply not settled.
How it traveled
Kaiden is an American spelling, one of several — Caden, Kaden, Cayden, Kayden — for a name that arrived without a paper trail behind it. It rose as part of the -aden rhyme family, whose oldest member, Aiden, goes back through Aidan to the Irish Aodhán, and which also drew on surnames like Hayden and Braden already in circulation as first names.
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
Dallas
DAL-us
Stress on the first syllable. The second is an unstressed 'us' or 'is' depending on region; both are ordinary and neither needs correcting.
- Dal — The usual clipped form, informal and mostly spoken rather than written.
- Dally — An affectionate family form, used more with small children than with adults.
Kaiden
KAY-den
Stress on the first syllable. The -ai- is a long A, as in Kaitlyn; the second syllable is a light -den. Pronunciation is the same across all the spellings in this family.
- Kai — The most-used short form; also a full given name in its own right in the US and elsewhere.
- Kade — Informal, and independently used as a given name, so it carries easily on its own.
- K — Casual initial nickname, mostly among friends and teammates.
- KD — Informal, usually with a middle or last initial attached.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Dallas if you want…
- a name on the way upup 31 places on the charts in five years
- a long American recordDallas was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Kaiden if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsKaiden is stepping back from its peak
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Kai, Kade and K
- a newer arrivalKaiden entered the US charts in 1992
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
Dallas
Strengths
- Unbroken presence in American records since the earliest years of national name statistics — long familiarity, without ever having been a crowd.
- A spelling nobody has to be told twice: the city has taught it to every English speaker.
- Given to both boys and girls, so the name itself needs no adjustment either way.
To consider
- The place association is unavoidable. Most people will think of the Texas city, the football team, or the television series that ran from the late 1970s into the early 1990s, and some will hear the city's link to the Kennedy assassination.
- Strongest in Texas, Georgia and California — inside Texas especially, the name and the city are hard to separate, which may read as local pride or as a lot to carry.
- It leans boy in the records. A girl named Dallas is in a real but smaller group, and may occasionally be assumed a boy on paper before she is met in person.
Kaiden
Strengths
- Reads correctly at first sight for English speakers — the sound is transparent from the spelling.
- Two ready short forms, Kai and Kade, both of which also work as standalone names.
- Sits in a rhyme family people already know, so it is heard and remembered without explanation.
To consider
- The spelling field is crowded: Kayden, Caden, Kaden and Cayden all sound identical. Expect to spell it out often, and expect forms and rosters to guess wrong now and then.
- No documented meaning. If a meaning you can tell a child about matters to you, this name will not supply one — and no source that offers one can back it up.
- Its wave is recent, so nearly everyone carrying the name is young. There are no older Kaidens to grow into, which some parents like and others miss.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Dallas
25%chance Dallas feels dated by 2040
Dallas peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
Kaiden
40%chance Kaiden feels dated by 2040
Kaiden sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Dallas and Kaiden 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 Dallas and Kaiden?
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.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
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
- Southern charm: names the South loves best
- Names with a double letter
- Borrowed from the girls: names boys are taking back
- Place names on the map and the birth certificate
- all guides
Where Dallas and Kaiden each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Dallas or Kaiden — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Dallas or Kaiden?
- Kaiden, in 2025: Kaiden ranked #237 with 1,476 babies; Dallas ranked #238 with 1,475 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Dallas or Kaiden?
- Dallas. Over the last five years Dallas moved up 31 places; Kaiden moved down 98 places.
- Which is the older name, Dallas or Kaiden?
- Dallas was already in use when US records began in 1880; Kaiden entered the US charts in 1992. On the American record, Dallas is the older name.
- How many people are named Dallas and Kaiden?
- About 56,000 people named Dallas are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 52,000 people named Kaiden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Dallass or Kaidens in the classroom?
- Dallas will almost certainly be the only one in school. Kaiden 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 Dallas, Kaiden and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap