Kadyn
A masculine name of Celtic origin meaning "battle."
Name Census estimates that about 4,634 living Americans carry the first name Kadyn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 69.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Kadyn today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kadyn births was 2009 (371 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kadyn. 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 Kadyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kadyn 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
4.6K
~ 1 in 73,965 Americans
Peak year
2009
371 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,348
Tracked since 1993
Census
Kadyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,768 people with the first name Kadyn, which placed it at #4,796 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
#4,796
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,768 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kadyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kadyn is White at 63.0%. The next largest groups are Black (17.9%) and Two or More Races (8.3%). 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 Kadyn 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 Kadyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.0% · 2,375
- Black or African American17.9% · 674
- Two or more races8.3% · 312
- Hispanic or Latino7.7% · 290
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 71
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 46
Gender
Gender distribution for Kadyn
Kadyn is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 4,683 total registrations, 3,254 (69.5%) were male and 1,429 (30.5%) were female.
Kadyn as a male name
- Ranked #2,348 in 2024
- 60 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (259 births)
Kadyn as a female name
- Ranked #14,243 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (144 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kadyn on both sides of the split. Of the 3,758 people counted with this name, 2,528 were male (67.3%) and 1,230 were female (32.7%).
Popularity
Kadyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kadyn from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 2,375 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
Kadyn 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 Kadyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kadyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Kadyn, while Nevada, New Hampshire, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 65 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kadyn
The given name Kadyn has its roots in the ancient Celtic language spoken by the Gauls and Britons. It is derived from the Proto-Celtic word *katu, meaning "battle" or "combat". The earliest known spelling of the name was Catunus, which appeared in inscriptions found in what is now modern-day France and England, dating back to the 1st century AD.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Catunus Valerius, a Gaulish chieftain who led a rebellion against Roman rule in the region of Gaul in the year 69 AD. His uprising was ultimately crushed by the Roman legions, but his name lived on in the annals of history.
In the 5th century AD, a Briton named Kadyn ap Meurig was noted for his bravery in defending his village from Saxon invaders. The name Kadyn was also mentioned in the Welsh epic poem "Y Gododdin", which recounts the Battle of Catraeth fought between the Britons and the Saxons in the late 6th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Kadyn was borne by several notable figures. In 1066, a Norman knight named Kadyn de Bayeux fought alongside William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings and was later granted lands in England. Another Kadyn, a Welsh poet and bard, lived in the 12th century and composed several works that have survived to this day.
In the 16th century, a Scottish clan chief named Kadyn MacLeod was renowned for his military prowess and leadership during the clan wars that ravaged the Highlands. He was instrumental in forging alliances and maintaining peace among the clans of the Western Isles.
Throughout history, the name Kadyn has been associated with bravery, strength, and a warrior spirit, reflecting its Celtic origins and the valor of those who bore this name in battle and conflict. While its popularity has waxed and waned over the centuries, the name Kadyn remains a testament to the rich cultural heritage of the ancient Celts and their enduring legacy.
People
Kadyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kadyn 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
Kadyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kadyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,634 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kadyn 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 73,965 US residents.
Is Kadyn a common name?
We classify Kadyn as "Rare". It ranks above 96.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,683 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kadyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Kadyn was 2009, when 371 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kadyn 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 Kadyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,768 people with the name Kadyn, or 1.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,796 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 Kadyn 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 Kadyn?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kadyn on both sides of the split. Of the 3,758 people counted with this name, 2,528 were male (67.3%) and 1,230 were female (32.7%). 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 Kadyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kadyn is White at 63.0%. The next largest groups are Black (17.9%) and Two or More Races (8.3%). 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 Kadyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kadyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.0% (2,375 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 Kadyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kadyn a male name?
Yes, 69.5% of people registered as Kadyn 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 Kadyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kadyn 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 Kadyn 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 are named Kadyn?
Find out how many people share the name Kadyn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.