Ogden
Masculine · “Old English ac and denu”
The oak is the commonest tree in English place names, and the reason is practical rather than sentimental. Oaks lived long enough to serve as boundary markers, they were the timber of every ship and roof beam, and their acorns fed the pigs. A landscape organized around oak trees named itself after them, and Ogden is oak valley.
How old is the name Ogden?
Ogden first appears in US birth records in 1892 — 133 years ago. The typical Ogden alive today was born around 1940, making them about 85 years old. About 400 people named Ogden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ogden most popular?
Ogden peaked in 1907, reaching #930 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 7,313 places below that high. See the whole 1907 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ac denu to Ogden
The story of Ogden
Anglo-Saxon charters describe estate boundaries by walking them, and the perambulations are full of trees: to the crooked oak, then to the thorn, then along the ditch to the ash. A tree that stands for three hundred years is a better marker than a stone that can be moved, and oaks were used for the purpose all over England. That is why they are so heavily represented in the place name record relative to other species, and why the boundary oak survives as a legal concept into the modern period. The timber uses reinforced it: the English navy's demand for oak was so large that plantations were laid down in the eighteenth century specifically to supply ships that were obsolete before the trees matured. Ogden peaks as an American given name in 1907, in the period when English surnames were fashionable for boys.
Meaning
Old English ac and denu, oak valley
From Old English ac, an oak, and denu, a valley. Ogden is a place name found in Lancashire and Yorkshire and a surname taken from it; Ogden, Utah is named after a fur trapper who carried the surname. The element ac also gives Oakley, Acton, Aylesbury and Accrington, and denu gives the -den of Marsden, Hebden and Debden.
How the name formed
- ac denu
- Ogden
Pronouncing Ogden
OG-dun
Two syllables, stress on the first, short o. The second syllable is fully reduced. The Old English denu, a valley, has become identical in modern spelling to den, an animal's lair, which is a different word.
Nicknames for Ogden
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
- 1892
- Most boys named
- 191623 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #930reached in 1907
- Change vs 2023
- −40.0%9 in 2025, from 15
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.
Ogdens among us
people named Ogden are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Ogden
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Ogden 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
Ogden beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ogden in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both elements have settled Old English meanings.
- It is short and easy to spell.
- It fits the American surname-as-first-name tradition.
- It reads as a surname and as early twentieth century.
- The -den ending is easily confused with the unrelated word den.
- It is rare enough to need spelling out.
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Ogden
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ogdens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Ogden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ogden in 2025?
- Ogden ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ogden?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Ogden — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ogden with classmates?
- Ogden will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ogden
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Ashford#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ogden? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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