Caden
Feminine
Caden is given to boys far more often — 72,045 boys against 948 girls since 1880. See Caden as a boy name
Thousands of names appear on both the boys' and girls' lists in the same year, but almost none of them are balanced. A genuinely unisex name, split anywhere near evenly, is rare; the great majority of shared names run four to one or worse in one direction.
How old is the name Caden?
Caden first appears in US birth records in 1993 — 32 years ago. The typical Caden alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 900 people named Caden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Caden most popular?
Caden peaked in 2006, reaching #2165 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 7,292 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Caden
The word unisex flatters the data. A name that appears on both published lists in a year is common enough, since the threshold is only five births, but appearing on both is not the same as being shared. Most names that cross are overwhelmingly one sex with a small tail on the other side, and the tail is often a mixture of family surnames, transcription and a handful of genuine crossings. Names that sit anywhere near an even split are a short list, and they do not stay there: a balanced name is unstable, because parents notice the drift and the sex that is losing ground abandons it. Quinn, Riley and Rowan have held the middle for a while; Ashley, Aubrey, Lindsay and Shannon passed through it on their way from male to female and did not stop. Caden is at the beginning of that curve rather than in the middle of it.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Caden has no inherited etymology. It appeared in American records in the 1990s at the head of a large rhyme family and has no source in any older language. The Irish or Welsh glosses attached to it in name books, usually spirit of battle, correspond to no documented word. The female peak is 2006, well after the male one.
Pronouncing Caden
KAY-den
Two syllables, stress on the first. Caden, Kaden, Cayden and Kaiden are homophones with at least six spellings between them.
Nicknames for Caden
Moderate
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
- 1993
- Most girls named
- 200689 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2165reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −54.5%10 in 2025, from 22
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.
Caden in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kaden in English — spelling variant
- Cayden in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Cadens among us
people named Caden are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Caden
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Caden
- #9457
- Caden on the 2025 chart
- #944
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Caden went to 10 girls in 2025, but Kaden is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 16, which makes it the 944th most-given girls’ name of the year — 8,513 places above the chart.
- Caden10
- Kaden6
About 1 girl in 100,454 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 160,727 for Caden 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 Altagracia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Caden's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Altagracia climbed just as high around 1926, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Altagracia's path sketches the road Caden is walking now.
Caden 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Caden beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Caden in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Cade works as a short form and is a name in its own right.
- The pronunciation is obvious from the spelling.
- Two syllables with a clear first-syllable stress.
- It is read as a boy's name by most Americans.
- Many spellings compete for the same sound.
- The meanings given in name books are not supported.
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What they receive
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Caden
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cadens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Caden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Caden?
- Caden is the most-used spelling in US records — 10 of the 16 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kaden.
- How popular is the name Caden in 2025?
- Caden ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Caden?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Caden — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Caden with classmates?
- Caden will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Caden
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Inga#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Caden? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Caden and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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