Cayden
Feminine
Cayden is given to both — 1,878 girls and 41,245 boys since 1880. See Cayden as a boy nameSee other names given to both
The largest sound family in modern American naming has one genuine ancestor, and it is Aidan. Aodhán is a real Irish name — little fire, from the god Aodh — and everything that rhymes with it, Caden, Braden, Jaden, Hayden and Cayden among them, was assembled afterwards.
How old is the name Cayden?
Cayden first appears in US birth records in 1994 — 31 years ago. The typical Cayden alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 1,900 people named Cayden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cayden most popular?
Cayden peaked in 2008, reaching #1421 nationally. Today it ranks #7491, 6,070 places below that high. See the whole 2008 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aodhán to Cayden
Our story of Cayden
A rhyme family needs a founder, and this one has a documented ancestor with a real etymology. Aodh was a fire god in Irish tradition; Aodhán, his diminutive, was borne by a sixth-century saint of Lindisfarne and is a continuously used Irish name. Aidan re-entered American use in the 1990s, climbed fast, and then something unusual happened: instead of producing spelling variants, it produced rhymes. Braden, Jaden, Caden, Hayden, Kaiden and Zayden are not spellings of Aidan; they are different names that share its shape, and by the 2000s the family was large enough that any new -aden name sounded familiar on first hearing. Girls' use came late and stayed a minority — the female Cayden peaks in 2008 — which is the usual sequence for a surname-shaped sound that began male.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No inherited meaning. Cayden is a respelling of Caden, itself of disputed origin: proposals include a Scottish surname McCadden, a clipping of Cadence, and independent formation on the rhyme of Aidan and Braden. Aidan, from Irish Aodhán, a diminutive of Aodh, fire, is a genuine and very old name, but Cayden does not descend from it — it rhymes with it. That distinction matters.
How the name formed
- Aodhán
- Aidan
- Caden
- Cayden
Related forms: Caden · Kayden · Aodhán
Pronouncing Cayden
KAY-dun
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the second reduced to a schwa. Cayden, Caden, Kaden and Kayden are all pronounced identically.
Nicknames for Cayden
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
- 1994
- Most girls named
- 2008167 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1421reached in 2008
- Change vs 2024
- −39.1%14 in 2025, from 23
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.
Cayden in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caden in English — spelling variant
- Kayden in English — spelling variant
- Aodhán in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Ohio.
Caydens among us
people named Cayden are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was named Cayden
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cayden
- #7491
- Cayden on the 2025 chart
- #877
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cayden went to 14 girls in 2025, but Kayden and Kaiden are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 83, which makes it the 877th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,614 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 19,365 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 114,805 for Cayden 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 Anette test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cayden's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Anette climbed just as high around 1965, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Anette's path sketches the road Cayden is walking now.
Cayden 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
Cayden beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cayden in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It sits in the largest and most familiar current sound family.
- It is read correctly on sight with nothing silent.
- Two syllables and easy for a child to write.
- The name is used far more often for boys than for girls.
- Caden, Kaden and Kayden are all more common spellings.
- There is no meaning to give behind the name.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Cayden
Feminine · #7491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Caydens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Cayden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cayden?
- Cayden is one of 3 recorded spellings. Kayden is the more common one — 57 births in 2025 against 14 for Cayden.
- How popular is the name Cayden in 2025?
- Cayden ranks #7491 among US girl names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cayden?
- About 1 in every 114,805 US girls born in 2025 was named Cayden — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cayden with classmates?
- Cayden will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cayden
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christie#7491 · Carmelita#7491 · Jetta#7491 · Hildegard#7491 · Rickie#7491 · Billy#7491 · Angelyn#7491 · Jewell#7491
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cayden? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cayden and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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