boy's name
Caiden
KAY-den
- Origin uncertain
- Gender Boy
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 28,317
the United States
#602
2025 births
Caiden is a boy's name with no established etymology, a modern respelling that reference sites trace to an Irish surname it probably has nothing to do with. It ranks 120th in Northern Ireland and 602nd in the United States.
- Caiden is a name of uncertain origin.
- Peaked in 2008, when 1,445 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 6,980 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1990.
Caiden over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1990s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1990s | 247 |
| 2000s | 7,770 |
| 2010s | 11,931 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,914 |
What Caiden means
Caiden has no demonstrable meaning. Fighter and round are both offered from the Irish surname Mac Cadáin, but the modern name looks to have been built from the sound of Aiden rather than derived from anything.
Where Caiden comes from
Caiden is one of a large family of modern respellings — Caden, Kaden, Kaiden, Cayden, Jayden, Brayden — that emerged in the United States in the 1990s. Reference sites give it an Irish origin from Mac Cadáin, a Louth surname anglicized as McCadden, usually glossed as son of Cadán with the root left unexplained. That derivation is possible but does not account for the timing: Caden and its spellings appeared in the American charts alongside Jaden and Braden as a rhyming set, which is a naming pattern rather than a borrowing. Aidan, a genuinely Irish name meaning little fire, is almost certainly the model. The honest position is that Caiden is a modern coinage whose Irish credentials were supplied afterward.
Caiden in use
Caiden ranks 120th in Northern Ireland with 18 births in 2024 and 602nd in the United States with 475 births, and it is falling in our data from a peak in 2008 — the whole -aden family peaked together and has been receding together since. Our records carry it from 1990, which is consistent with a coinage rather than a survival. It also holds 235th in Scotland.
How popular is Caiden?
In 2025, Caiden was given to 475 babies in the United States, ranking #602 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Caiden is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Caiden is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Caïden | Caïden is Caiden written with a diaeresis, used in France, where it ranks #5,067. | 15 |
Names that peaked alongside Caiden
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Caiden also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Caiden over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
3 nicknames for Caiden
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Caiden in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Arabic
- Caden
Sibling names for Caiden
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Caiden — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Caiden
What does the name Caiden mean?
There is no demonstrable meaning. The Irish surname derivation offered by most sites does not account for how the name actually appeared.
Is Caiden an Irish name?
Probably not. It emerged in 1990s America alongside Jaden and Braden as a rhyming set, most likely modeled on Aidan.
What is the difference between Caiden and Caden?
Only spelling. Registers count Caden, Kaden, Cayden and Kaiden separately.
How popular is Caiden?
120th in Northern Ireland and 602nd in the United States.
Is Caiden a girl's or a boy's name?
Caiden is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
What are the nicknames for Caiden?
Caiden is usually shortened to Cade, Denny and Cai.
Is Caiden a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Caiden currently ranks #120 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.