Kaden
Masculine
Kaden is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 69,595 boys against 1,106 girls since 1880. See Kaden as a girl name
Kaden is one of the very few widely used American names with no ancestor at all. Aidan is Irish and real; Jaden has a faint biblical shadow behind it; Kaden has neither. It was made when the Aiden rhyme was at its strongest, by attaching the most available consonant to the most available ending, and the record shows it doing exactly that.
How old is the name Kaden?
Kaden first appears in US birth records in 1977 — 48 years ago. The typical Kaden alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 69,000 people named Kaden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaden most popular?
Kaden peaked in 2006, reaching #92 nationally. Today it ranks #328, 236 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Kaden
Aidan brought its ending into American naming in the 1990s and the ending then did something no ending had done at that scale: it detached, and every consonant in the language was tried in front of it. Kaden and Caden were among the first of the purely new members — names with the shape of a tradition and none of the substance — and they became genuinely popular very quickly. That is a real event in the history of American naming, and it is this name's whole history. Being new is not a defect; it is simply worth saying rather than covering with an invented etymology.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Nothing is documented. Meanings are printed for this name in various places — companion, from Arabic, and fighter, from a supposed Welsh source — and neither can be traced to a word in either language that would produce it. There is a genuine Welsh Cadan and an Irish surname Mac Cadáin, but no line runs from either to the American name, which appears in the record exactly when the rhyme scheme it belongs to appeared.
Pronouncing Kaden
KAY-den
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. Caden, Kayden, Kaiden and Kaeden are all said identically, which is why there are so many of them.
Nicknames for Kaden
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
- 1977
- Most boys named
- 20064,746 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #92reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −7.3%1,034 in 2025, from 1,115
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.
Kaden in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Kadens among us
people named Kaden are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,652 born in 2025 was named Kaden
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaden
- #328
- Kaden on the 2025 chart
- #132
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaden went to 1,034 boys in 2025, but Caden is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 2,784, which makes it the 132nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 196 places above the chart.
- Caden1,742
- Kaden1,034
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 614 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,652 for Kaden 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 Jerome test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaden's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jerome climbed just as high around 1938, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jerome's path sketches the road Kaden is walking now.
Kaden is coming down from a big peak (#92 in 2006). 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 Kaden is headed
Kaden 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.
Kaden beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaden in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is instantly familiar to every American and needs no explanation aloud.
- Kade works as a short form and has become a name in its own right.
- It is completely readable on sight with no ambiguity about the sound.
- It works for a child of either sex in the record, though nearly all are boys.
- Caden, Kayden and Kaiden all compete, so the spelling has to be dictated forever.
- It has no history to hand a child who goes looking, and the meanings offered online are invented.
- It belongs precisely to one naming wave and will date a boy's birth to within a few years.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kaden to the vote.
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What they receive
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Kaden
Masculine · #328 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kadens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 69,000 people named Kaden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaden?
- Kaden is one of 2 recorded spellings. Caden is the more common one — 1,742 births in 2025 against 1,034 for Kaden.
- How popular is the name Kaden in 2025?
- Kaden ranks #328 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,034 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaden?
- About 1 in every 1,652 US boys born in 2025 was named Kaden — 1,034 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaden with classmates?
- Kaden will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaden
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Phoenix#329 · Dariel#326 · Josue#330 · Aidan#326 · Cruz#331 · Niko#325 · Sutton#332 · Zane#324
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaden? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kaden and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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