Paden
Masculine · “Descendant of Páidín”
Paden is given to both — 1,783 boys and 198 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Paden is an English surname and an Oklahoma town, and in the American birth records it belongs to a much larger phenomenon: the -aden ending, which by the 1980s was beginning the run that would make Aiden, Braden and Jayden the defining boys' names of the next thirty years.
How old is the name Paden?
Paden first appears in US birth records in 1985 — 40 years ago. The typical Paden alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 1,700 people named Paden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Paden most popular?
Paden peaked in 1987, reaching #1088 nationally. Today it ranks #5399, 4,311 places below that high. See the whole 1987 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Pádraig to Paden
Our story of Paden
The -aden family did not begin with Aiden. Look at the dates: Braden appears in the American records in the 1960s, Hayden and Jaden in the 1970s, Paden and Caden in the 1980s, and Aiden itself does not take off until the 1990s. The ending was already productive before its most famous member arrived, which is worth knowing, because it means the family was not created by one name — it was created by a sound that a generation of American families found comfortable and then filled in with every available consonant. Paden is one of the earlier fillings. Its 1987 peak comes a decade before the family's national explosion, which makes it a name of the run-up rather than of the crest.
Meaningscholars disagree
Descendant of Páidín, little Patrick
Paden is generally derived from Irish Ó Páidín, from Páidín, a diminutive of Pádraig, Patrick — from Latin patricius, a nobleman. That chain is plausible and the intermediate steps are documented for related surnames. A separate English place-name origin has also been proposed. Neither is established for the American given name, which may equally be a formation on the -aden rhyme family.
How the name formed
- Pádraig
- Páidín
- Paden
Related forms: Ó Páidín · Páidín
Pronouncing Paden
PAY-den
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with Braden. The Irish Páidín is closer to PAW-jeen, which is a different name to the ear.
Nicknames for Paden
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
- 1985
- Most boys named
- 198778 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1088reached in 1987
- Change vs 2024
- −5.6%17 in 2025, from 18
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.
Paden in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Páidín in Irish — related form
- Páidín in Irish — related form
Padens among us
people named Paden are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 100,475 born in 2025 was named Paden
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Nickie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Paden's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Nickie climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Nickie's path sketches the road Paden is walking now.
Paden 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
Paden beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Paden in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is easy to say and to spell after one hearing.
- It sits in a very familiar sound family without being one of its common members.
- The possible Irish source connects it to Patrick.
- Payton, Paden and Peyton will all be written for each other.
- The meaning is not established for the given name.
- The -aden ending dates it to the decades after 1980.
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What they receive
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Paden
Masculine · #5399 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Padens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Paden are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Paden in 2025?
- Paden ranks #5399 among US boy names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Paden?
- About 1 in every 100,475 US boys born in 2025 was named Paden — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Paden with classmates?
- Paden will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Paden
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Frazier#5399 · Franz#5399 · Demetrio#5399 · Rolan#5399 · Rayvon#5399 · Riddick#5399 · Laramie#5399 · Soloman#5399
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Paden? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Paden and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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