Kaladin
Masculine
Kaladin reached American birth certificates the way very few names do: straight off the page of a novel. Brandon Sanderson gave it to the soldier at the center of The Way of Kings, published in 2010, and it began appearing in the records not long after. Said aloud — KAL-uh-din — it lands as three even syllables, a half-step from the word paladin and from the whole Kaden-and-Aidan sound family already familiar in any American classroom.
How old is the name Kaladin?
Kaladin first appears in US birth records in 2012 — 13 years ago. The typical Kaladin is a kid of about 3 — this name's wave is very recent. About 800 people named Kaladin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaladin most popular?
Kaladin peaked in 2024, reaching #1405 nationally. Today it ranks #1486, 81 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Kaladin appears on this list:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Kaladin
Kaladin is an invented name with an unusually precise birthplace: Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, the first volume of The Stormlight Archive, which appeared in 2010 and has run to several very long books since. The character is one of the most widely read protagonists in modern fantasy, and the audiobooks fixed a single pronunciation in most listeners' ears, which is part of why the name has stayed remarkably stable in spelling. Its arrival in the US records follows the books closely, and its climb has tracked each new volume — a naming wave you can date to the decade rather than the century. Almost everyone carrying it is still small.
Meaningnot established
Not established
There is no meaning to translate: the name was coined for fiction, and no gloss has been published for it. What is documented is the source — the epic fantasy series The Stormlight Archive, where Kaladin is a surgeon's son turned soldier, called Kal by his family and Stormblessed by the men who follow him.
Pronouncing Kaladin
KAL-uh-din
Stress on the first syllable, which rhymes with pal. The audiobook narration of the series settled this pronunciation for most readers, so it rarely comes into question.
Nicknames for Kaladin
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
- 2012
- Most boys named
- 2024133 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1405reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −10.5%119 in 2025, from 133
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.
Kaladin in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Utah, Texas, Washington.
Kaladins among us
people named Kaladin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 14,354 born in 2025 was named Kaladin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaladin
- #1486
- Kaladin on the 2025 chart
- #793
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaladin went to 119 boys in 2025, but Caladin is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 135, which makes it the 793rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 693 places above the chart.
- Kaladin119
- Caladin16
About 1 boy in 12,652 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 14,354 for Kaladin 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 Tor test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaladin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tor climbed just as high around 1965, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tor's path sketches the road Kaladin is walking now.
Kaladin is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Kaladin is headed
Kaladin looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 39% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium 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.
Kaladin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaladin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Phonetic spelling — most people can write it correctly after hearing it once, which is not true of every newly coined name.
- Kal is a ready-made short form with a long history of its own use, giving the name a plain everyday register.
- The rhythm sits inside the familiar -din/-den sound family, so it reads as new rather than foreign.
- A documented origin you can point to precisely: one novel, one author, one character — rare for a name this recent.
- The reference is single and permanent. Anyone who reads epic fantasy will ask about the books immediately, and it is worth knowing the character's story turns on war, enslavement and long stretches of depression.
- Your child will almost certainly be the only one anywhere nearby, which means introducing and spelling the name for life, and fielding Kaladen, Caladin and the occasional Aladdin.
- Names born from one fandom tend to carry the stamp of their decade. The consolation is the sound itself, which sits so close to names already in constant use that it will read as ordinary long after the source is less famous.
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What they receive
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Kaladin
Masculine · #1486 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaladins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Kaladin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaladin?
- Kaladin is the most-used spelling in US records — 119 of the 135 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Caladin.
- How popular is the name Kaladin in 2025?
- Kaladin ranks #1486 among US boy names in 2025, with 119 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaladin?
- About 1 in every 14,354 US boys born in 2025 was named Kaladin — 119 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaladin with classmates?
- Kaladin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaladin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Cecil#1486 · Ziggy#1486 · Jonathon#1486 · Mauro#1486 · Finnian#1486 · Arjan#1492 · Kyair#1492 · Nickolas#1492
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaladin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kaladin and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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