Cayden
Of Celtic origin, a diminutive and elaboration of "Cai".
Name Census estimates that about 41,934 living Americans carry the first name Cayden. It sits at #349 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (95.6% of registrations). The average person named Cayden today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cayden births was 2009 (2,907 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cayden. 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 Cayden with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Cayden is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,864 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Cayden is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
42K
~ 1 in 8,174 Americans
Peak year
2009
2,907 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#349
Tracked since 1990
Census
Cayden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 32,294 people with the first name Cayden, which placed it at #1,206 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
#1,206
National first-name rank
People counted
32K
32,294 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cayden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cayden is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Black (16.4%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Cayden 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 Cayden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.2% · 20,422
- Black or African American16.4% · 5,305
- Hispanic or Latino9.0% · 2,907
- Two or more races7.8% · 2,504
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 859
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 297
Gender
Gender distribution for Cayden
Cayden leans heavily male at 95.6% of total registrations, but 1,864 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Cayden as a male name
- Ranked #349 in 2024
- 963 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (2,749 births)
Cayden as a female name
- Ranked #5,459 in 2024
- 23 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (167 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cayden leans strongly male. 30,683 people counted with this name were male (95.0%), compared with 1,620 female bearers (5.0%).
Popularity
Cayden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cayden from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 20,469 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cayden 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 Cayden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caydens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Cayden, while District of Columbia, Wyoming, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 793 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cayden
The name Cayden is a relatively modern invention, with its origins tracing back to the late 20th century. It is believed to have emerged as a variant spelling of the traditional English name Caden, which itself is a form of the Welsh name Cadyn. The Welsh name Cadyn is derived from the Celtic word "cad," meaning "battle" or "war."
While the name Cayden does not have a long historical lineage, it gained popularity in the United States and other English-speaking countries in the 1990s and early 2000s. The spelling variation with a "y" instead of an "a" may have been introduced to add a more distinctive or modern flair to the name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cayden can be found in the 1990 U.S. Census, where a small number of individuals were listed with this name. However, it was not until the late 1990s and early 2000s that the name began to gain traction in popularity.
Throughout its relatively short history, there are a few notable individuals who have carried the name Cayden. One example is Cayden Boyd, an American actor born in 1995, known for his roles in films such as "The Newcomers" and "The Descendants." Another is Cayden Primeau, a Canadian ice hockey goaltender born in 1999, who currently plays for the Montreal Canadiens organization.
While the name Cayden may not have a rich historical legacy, it has become a popular choice for parents seeking a unique and modern-sounding name for their children. Its rise in popularity reflects the broader trend of creating new names or variations of existing ones to stand out in an increasingly diverse and multicultural society.
People
Cayden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cayden 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
Cayden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cayden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 41,934 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cayden 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 8,174 US residents.
Is Cayden a common name?
We classify Cayden as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 42,322 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cayden most popular?
The single biggest year for Cayden was 2009, when 2,907 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cayden is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cayden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 32,294 people with the name Cayden, or 10.69 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,206 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 Cayden 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 Cayden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cayden leans strongly male. 30,683 people counted with this name were male (95.0%), compared with 1,620 female bearers (5.0%). 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 Cayden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cayden is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Black (16.4%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Cayden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cayden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.2% (20,422 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 Cayden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cayden a male name?
Yes, 95.6% of people registered as Cayden in the SSA data are male. 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 Cayden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cayden 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 Cayden 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 Cayden?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.