Kadence
Feminine · “rhythm”
Kadence is given to both — 11,618 girls and 1,680 boys since 1880. See Kadence as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Kadence is the musical term respelled — a cadence, from the Latin for falling, because a phrase falls to its close. It is one of the few names taken from a technical vocabulary.
How old is the name Kadence?
Kadence first appears in US birth records in 1994 — 31 years ago. The typical Kadence alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 11,500 people named Kadence are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kadence most popular?
Kadence peaked in 2005, reaching #344 nationally. Today it ranks #1611, 1,267 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From cadere to Kadence
The story of Kadence
Word-names taken from music were rare until the twenty-first century, when Harmony, Lyric, Melody and Cadence rose together in American use. Cadence appears in the registers from the late 1990s and rose sharply; the K respelling followed almost immediately, and Kadence peaked around 2008.
Meaning
rhythm, a falling close
From the English cadence, through the Italian cadenza and the Latin cadere, 'to fall'. In music a cadence is the chord sequence that closes a phrase; the sense of falling is literal. The word is ordinary English and the meaning transparent.
How the name formed
- cadere
- cadenza
- cadence
- Kadence
Related forms: Cadence · Kaydence · Cadenza
Pronouncing Kadence
KAY-dens
Two syllables, stress on the first. Kadence and Cadence are said identically.
Nicknames for Kadence
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
- 2005911 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #344reached in 2005
- Change vs 2024
- −7.2%129 in 2025, from 139
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.
Kadence in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cadence in English — spelling variant
- Kaydence in English — spelling variant
- Cadenza in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Georgia.
Kadences among us
people named Kadence are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 12,459 born in 2025 was named Kadence
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kadence
- #1611
- Kadence on the 2025 chart
- #610
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kadence went to 129 girls in 2025, but Cadence is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 374, which makes it the 610th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,001 places above the chart.
- Cadence245
- Kadence129
About 1 girl in 4,298 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 12,459 for Kadence 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 Jaleesa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kadence's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jaleesa climbed just as high around 1988, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jaleesa's path sketches the road Kadence is walking now.
Kadence 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
Where Kadence is headed
Kadence is easing off slowly — about 22% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Kadence beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kadence in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is concrete, transparent and genuinely specific.
- It belongs to a coherent and current family of music word-names.
- Kady and Kade are two short forms with their own records.
- Cadence is the standard spelling of the word and of the name.
- At least three spellings of the sound are in use.
- It is closely dated to the late 2000s.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kadence
Feminine · #1611 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kadences are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 11,500 people named Kadence are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kadence?
- Kadence is one of 2 recorded spellings. Cadence is the more common one — 245 births in 2025 against 129 for Kadence.
- How popular is the name Kadence in 2025?
- Kadence ranks #1611 among US girl names in 2025, with 129 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kadence?
- About 1 in every 12,459 US girls born in 2025 was named Kadence — 129 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kadence with classmates?
- Kadence will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kadence
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kalayah#1611 · Mari#1611 · Aavya#1611 · Lainee#1611 · Honesty#1611 · Rosalynn#1611 · Asma#1611 · Jiya#1611
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kadence? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kadence and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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