Cade
Masculine · Old English roots · “from an English surname”
Cade is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 34,772 boys against 146 girls since 1880.
Cade began as an English surname — the kind that gets handed forward as a first name — and it has been on American birth records since the middle of the last century, quietly and without a fashionable spelling to date it. One syllable, one clean vowel: it rhymes with made and shade, and it lands the same way every time it is said.
How old is the name Cade?
Cade first appears in US birth records in 1953 — 72 years ago. The typical Cade alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 34,500 people named Cade are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cade most popular?
Cade peaked in 2001, reaching #201 nationally. Today it ranks #248, 47 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Where it comes from
From Cada (Old English byname) to Cade
The story of Cade
Cade is an English surname first, recorded in medieval England and carried to America the way hundreds of such surnames were, then lifted into use as a first name. It is old enough to be famous in that older role: Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2 puts Jack Cade at the head of a Kentish rebellion, drawing on the real revolt of 1450. As a given name it belongs to the long American habit of turning family surnames into first names, and it has appeared steadily on US birth records since the 1950s rather than arriving with any one trend. Its strongest showing is in Texas, alongside California and Ohio.
Meaningscholars disagree
from an English surname; most often traced to Middle English cade, 'cask, barrel'
The main reading is occupational or metonymic: cade meant a cask or barrel in Middle English, so the surname would have attached to someone who made or sold them. A second reading takes it from the Old English personal byname Cada. A third points to the dialect sense of cade — a lamb raised by hand — used as a nickname. None of the three has pushed the others out.
Cultural footprint
Cade Cunningham (b. 2001) — NBA All-Star guard
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- CadaOld English byname
- CadeEnglish surname
- Cadegiven name
Related forms: Kade
Pronouncing Cade
KAYD
One syllable, rhyming with made. There is no competing pronunciation in English.
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1953
- Most boys named
- 20011,811 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #201reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- +10.0%1,392 in 2025, from 1,265
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Cade in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kade in English (US) — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Cades among us
people named Cade are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,227 born in 2025 was named Cade
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cade
- #248
- Cade on the 2025 chart
- #164
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cade went to 1,392 boys in 2025, but Kade is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 2,335, which makes it the 164th most-given boys’ name of the year — 84 places above the chart.
- Cade1,392
- Kade943
About 1 boy in 732 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,227 for Cade itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Buddy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cade's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Buddy climbed just as high around 1935, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Buddy's path sketches the road Cade is walking now.
Cade is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Cade is headed
Cade looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Cade beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cade in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, spelled the way it sounds — most people get it right on the first hearing.
- A documented English surname with centuries behind it, so it is a first name with a real record rather than a recent coinage.
- On US birth records continuously since the 1950s, which gives it a long, unbroken presence without ever belonging to a single decade.
- Sits easily with longer surnames, since it adds no extra beats of its own.
- It lives next door to the Caden, Kaden and Cayden cluster, and to the Kade spelling. Expect some people to assume Cade is short for something longer, or to write it with a K.
- One syllable means no built-in nickname and no formal version to fall back on — what you choose is what he has, in kindergarten and on a résumé alike.
- It reads as distinctly American surname-style, so outside the US it may need repeating once before it registers as a first name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Cade
Masculine · Old English roots · #248 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cades are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 34,500 people named Cade are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cade?
- Cade is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,392 of the 2,335 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kade.
- How popular is the name Cade in 2025?
- Cade ranks #248 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,392 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cade?
- About 1 in every 1,227 US boys born in 2025 was named Cade — 1,392 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cade with classmates?
- Cade will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cade
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ronan#247 · Louis#249 · Lane#250 · Shepherd#246 · Walter#251 · Harvey#251 · Zayn#251 · Mark#244
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cade? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cade and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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