Kadin
Of Turkish origin meaning "wanderer" or "free spirit".
Name Census estimates that about 5,160 living Americans carry the first name Kadin. It is a predominantly male name (96.6% of registrations). The average person named Kadin today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kadin births was 2004 (516 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kadin. 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 Kadin with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kadin is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 179 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
5.2K
~ 1 in 66,425 Americans
Peak year
2004
516 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,181
Tracked since 1984
Census
Kadin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,581 people with the first name Kadin, which placed it at #4,184 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
#4,184
National first-name rank
People counted
4.6K
4,581 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kadin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kadin is White at 67.7%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Two or More Races (10.3%). 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 Kadin 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 Kadin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.7% · 3,101
- Black or African American10.3% · 473
- Two or more races10.3% · 472
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 355
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 121
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 59
Gender
Gender distribution for Kadin
Kadin leans heavily male at 96.6% of total registrations, but 179 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kadin as a male name
- Ranked #3,181 in 2024
- 38 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (490 births)
Kadin as a female name
- Ranked #15,504 in 2013
- 6 female births in 2013
- Peak: 2004 (26 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kadin leans strongly male. 4,378 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 208 female bearers (4.5%).
Popularity
Kadin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kadin from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 3,565 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
Kadin 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 Kadin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kadins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kadin, while New Mexico, Maine, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 83 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kadin
The name Kadin has its origins in the Turkish language. It is believed to have emerged during the Ottoman Empire period, which spanned from the 13th to the 20th century. The name is derived from the Turkish word "kadin," which means "woman" or "lady."
While the exact origin of the name is unclear, it is thought to have been used as a term of respect and endearment for women in the Ottoman Turkish language. Over time, it transitioned from a common noun to a personal name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kadin can be found in the 16th-century Ottoman divan poetry. Divan poets, who were known for their intricate and often mystical love poems, occasionally used the name Kadin as a metaphor for beauty and grace.
In the 18th century, the name Kadin gained popularity among the Ottoman elite and aristocracy. It was often given to daughters of prominent families, reflecting the high esteem and respect accorded to women in those circles.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kadin. One of the earliest recorded figures was Kadin Sultan (1497-1512), the daughter of Sultan Bayezid II and the wife of Sultan Selim I. She was known for her patronage of arts and architecture during the Ottoman Renaissance.
Another notable figure was Kadin Efendi (1759-1834), a Turkish writer and poet who served as the Chief Harem Calligrapher during the reign of Sultan Selim III. Her works were highly regarded and contributed to the literary traditions of the Ottoman Empire.
In the 19th century, Kadin Hanim (1825-1898) was a prominent Ottoman painter and one of the first women to receive formal art training in the Empire. Her works were exhibited in the Paris Salon and helped pave the way for female artists in the region.
Kadin Xanım (1857-1935) was a renowned Azerbaijani educator and women's rights activist. She founded one of the first schools for girls in Baku and dedicated her life to promoting education and empowerment for women in the Caucasus region.
More recently, Kadin Bayizit (1913-1997) was a Turkish novelist and short story writer. She was known for her vivid depictions of rural life in Anatolia and her contributions to the development of modern Turkish literature.
While the name Kadin has its roots in the Ottoman Turkish tradition, it has since been adopted and used in various cultures and languages, particularly in the Middle East and Central Asia, reflecting the rich cultural exchange and influence of the Ottoman Empire.
People
Kadin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kadin as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kadin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kadin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,160 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kadin 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 66,425 US residents.
Is Kadin a common name?
We classify Kadin as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,225 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kadin most popular?
The single biggest year for Kadin was 2004, when 516 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kadin is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kadin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,581 people with the name Kadin, or 1.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,184 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 Kadin 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 Kadin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kadin leans strongly male. 4,378 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 208 female bearers (4.5%). 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 Kadin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kadin is White at 67.7%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Two or More Races (10.3%). 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 Kadin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kadin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.7% (3,101 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 Kadin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kadin a male name?
Yes, 96.6% of people registered as Kadin 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 Kadin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kadin 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 Kadin 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 Kadin as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Kadin on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.