boy's name
Kade
KAYD
- Origin English
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 1
- Letters 4
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 27,589
the United States
#349
2025 births
Kade is a boy's name of English origin, a modern respelling of Cade. The older spelling comes from a Middle English word meaning both a barrel and a hand-reared lamb, and reference sources differ on which sense produced the surname.
- Kade is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 2024, when 1,008 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 3,479 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1969.
- 1 syllable, with the stress on syllable 1.
Kade over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1960s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1960s | 6 |
| 1970s | 154 |
| 1980s | 583 |
| 1990s | 2,606 |
| 2000s | 6,851 |
| 2010s | 7,785 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 5,588 |
What Kade means
Kade means the same as Cade: either a cask, used as a nickname for someone round or stout, or a lamb raised by hand after losing its mother. Some sources add a Scottish reading, from the wetlands, which the English surname dictionaries do not support.
Where Kade comes from
Kade respells Cade, from the Middle English cade, a barrel or cask. Medieval bynames were freely physical, so a cade was a person built like one. The same word named a lamb abandoned by its ewe and reared by hand, a sense that survived in English farming dialect into the twentieth century, and some surname dictionaries take that as the source instead. Jack Cade led the 1450 rebellion against Henry VI, keeping the name in English memory. The K spelling is a late twentieth-century American preference, and our records show Kade appearing from 1969 while Cade goes back to 1953.
Kade in use
Kade charts in six of the seven countries we track and peaked in 2024.
How popular is Kade?
In 2025, Kade was given to 953 babies in the United States, ranking #349 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Kade 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 Kade is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Kadé | Kadé is a rare spelling of Kade, written with an acute accent and recorded about 15 times, mostly in France. | 15 |
Names that peaked alongside Kade
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Kade also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Kade over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Kade 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.
Sibling names for Kade
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Kade — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Kade
What does the name Kade mean?
A barrel, used as a nickname, or a hand-reared lamb. Sources differ on which sense produced the surname.
What is the difference between Kade and Cade?
Only the spelling. Cade is the traditional surname form; Kade is a modern American respelling.
Is Kade a boy's or a girl's name?
It is given almost entirely to boys.
How popular is the name Kade?
In 2025, Kade was given to 953 babies in the United States, ranking #349 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
How many syllables are in Kade?
Kade has 1 syllable.
When was Kade most popular?
Kade peaked in 2024, when 1,008 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
Is Kade a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Kade currently ranks #238 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.