Camden
Masculine · Old English roots · “valley name (from Old English denu”
Camden is given to both — 59,178 boys and 3,923 girls since 1880. See Camden as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Camden is English ground turned American given name: a Gloucestershire village that became a surname, an earldom, two famous city districts and, at last, a child's name. It arrives with its short form already attached — nearly every Camden is a Cam within the week.
How old is the name Camden?
Camden first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Camden is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 58,500 people named Camden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Camden most popular?
Camden peaked in 2013, reaching #99 nationally. Today it ranks #205, 106 places below that high. See the whole 2013 chart.
Camden appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Campden (Old English place name, from denu, 'valley') to Camden
The story of Camden
Camden began as English ground — Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire — and became a surname for families from there. The Elizabethan historian William Camden gave the surname its fame, an earldom took it up, and the earl's title was in turn stamped on Camden Town in London and Camden, New Jersey. Americans then walked the usual road backwards, from the map to the birth certificate, as part of the long fashion for surname-and-place first names. The spelling has never wavered, which is rarer than it sounds in that family of names.
Meaningscholars disagree
valley name (from Old English denu, 'valley')
The last element is agreed: the Old English denu, a valley. The first element is argued over — readings of the Gloucestershire place name Campden include 'valley with enclosures' and 'winding valley', and the record is too thin to pick a winner. Either way it is a landscape name, not a virtue or a lineage.
How the name formed
- CampdenOld English place name, from denu, 'valley'
- Camdensurname
- Camden
Pronouncing Camden
KAM-den
Two crisp syllables; the second is unstressed, as in London's Camden Town.
Nicknames for Camden
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 20133,897 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #99reached in 2013
- Change vs 2023
- −14.8%1,722 in 2025, from 2,022
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.
Camden in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Camdens among us
people named Camden are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 992 born in 2025 was named Camden
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Camden
- #205
- Camden on the 2025 chart
- #180
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Camden went to 1,722 boys in 2025, but Kamden is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 2,103, which makes it the 180th most-given boys’ name of the year — 25 places above the chart.
- Camden1,722
- Kamden375
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 812 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 992 for Camden 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 Roland test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Camden's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Roland climbed just as high around 1924, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Roland's path sketches the road Camden is walking now.
Camden is coming down from a big peak (#99 in 2013). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Camden is headed
Camden should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Camden beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Camden in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Comes with Cam built in — a short form that needs no explaining.
- Spelled exactly as it sounds, with no rival spelling in wide use.
- True of either child: the spelling is recorded for girls as well as boys, and it reads cleanly on both.
- Class lists now hold many Cam- names — Camden, Kamden, Camren, Cameron — and they blur together aloud.
- It is also two well-known city districts; Londoners and New Jerseyans will each hear their own first.
- Though recorded for both, nearly every Camden is a boy — a girl with the name will regularly meet surprised expectations, which some families count as a feature.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Camden to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Camden
Masculine · Old English roots · #205 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Camdens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 58,500 people named Camden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Camden?
- Camden is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,722 of the 2,103 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kamden.
- How popular is the name Camden in 2025?
- Camden ranks #205 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,722 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Camden?
- About 1 in every 992 US boys born in 2025 was named Camden — 1,722 in all.
- Will my child share the name Camden with classmates?
- Camden will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Camden
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Finn#206 · Kingston#204 · Riley#207 · Timothy#203 · Messiah#207 · Tatum#202 · Caden#201 · Victor#209
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Camden? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Camden and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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