Cadence
Derived from the French word cadence, meaning rhythmic flow or sequence.
Name Census estimates that about 23,967 living Americans carry the first name Cadence. It is a predominantly female name (91.5% of registrations). The average person named Cadence today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cadence births was 2007 (1,788 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cadence. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Cadence with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Cadence is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
24K
~ 1 in 14,301 Americans
Peak year
2007
1,788 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,035
Tracked since 1974
Census
Cadence in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 20,406 people with the first name Cadence, which placed it at #1,578 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,578
National first-name rank
People counted
20K
20,406 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cadence
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cadence is White at 72.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.3%) and Two or More Races (8.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cadence described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cadence at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.1% · 14,722
- Hispanic or Latino8.3% · 1,702
- Two or more races8.2% · 1,675
- Black or African American7.8% · 1,586
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 457
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 264
Gender
Gender distribution for Cadence
Cadence leans heavily female at 91.5% of total registrations, but 2,049 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Cadence as a male name
- Ranked #1,787 in 2024
- 91 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (115 births)
Cadence as a female name
- Ranked #1,035 in 2024
- 242 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (1,707 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cadence leans strongly female. 19,028 people counted with this name were female (93.3%), compared with 1,375 male bearers (6.7%).
Popularity
Cadence: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cadence from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 11,264 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cadence by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cadence during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cadences live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Cadence, while Vermont, Wyoming, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 435 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cadence
The name Cadence has its origins in the Latin language, derived from the word "cadentia," which means "rhythmic flow" or "metric beat." This name first emerged during the Middle Ages and was primarily used as a reference to the rhythmic patterns and inflections in poetry and music.
In the 14th century, the term "cadence" was adopted by musicians and poets to describe the melodic or rhythmic patterns that marked the end of a musical phrase or a poetic line. It became associated with the idea of harmony, balance, and artistic expression.
The earliest recorded use of Cadence as a given name can be traced back to the 16th century. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Cadence Witherspoon, an English poet and musician born in 1548. Her work was renowned for its lyrical cadences and intricate rhyme schemes.
Throughout history, the name Cadence has been bestowed upon various individuals, often with connections to the arts or music. One notable figure was Cadence Everett (1791-1865), an American composer and songwriter known for her patriotic ballads during the Civil War era.
In the 20th century, Cadence Keillor (1920-2005) was a celebrated American novelist and playwright, whose works were characterized by their rhythmic prose and poetic cadences. Her most famous novel, "The Cadence of Dreams," explored the themes of art, love, and the human experience through lyrical language.
Another notable figure was Cadence Balanchine (1904-1983), a renowned Russian-American choreographer and dancer. She is credited with revolutionizing the art of ballet by introducing new rhythmic patterns and cadences into her choreography, which became her signature style.
Cadence Joplin (1868-1917), the acclaimed American composer and pianist, is also worthy of mention. His ragtime compositions, such as "The Entertainer" and "Maple Leaf Rag," were celebrated for their syncopated rhythms and distinctive cadences, which helped shape the development of early jazz music.
While the name Cadence may have originated from the world of music and poetry, it has since transcended these boundaries and has been embraced by individuals from various walks of life, each adding their own unique rhythms and cadences to the tapestry of human experience.
People
Cadence + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cadence as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cadence: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cadence?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23,967 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cadence going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 14,301 US residents.
Is Cadence a common name?
We classify Cadence as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 24,231 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cadence most popular?
The single biggest year for Cadence was 2007, when 1,788 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cadence is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cadence in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 20,406 people with the name Cadence, or 6.76 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,578 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cadence in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cadence?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cadence leans strongly female. 19,028 people counted with this name were female (93.3%), compared with 1,375 male bearers (6.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cadence?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cadence is White at 72.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.3%) and Two or More Races (8.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cadence most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cadence in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.1% (14,722 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cadence in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cadence a female name?
Yes, 91.5% of people registered as Cadence in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cadence still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cadence in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cadence can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Cadence?
See how many Americans are named Cadence on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.