Cade
A masculine name derived from the English word "cadence" or "cade" meaning "rhythm".
Name Census estimates that about 33,057 living Americans carry the first name Cade. It sits at #272 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cade today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cade births was 2001 (1,817 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cade. 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 Cade with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Cade is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 140 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
33K
~ 1 in 10,369 Americans
Peak year
2001
1,817 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#272
Tracked since 1953
Census
Cade in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 27,587 people with the first name Cade, which placed it at #1,325 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
#1,325
National first-name rank
People counted
28K
27,587 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
9.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cade
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cade is White at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.2%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Cade 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 Cade at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.3% · 23,814
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 1,422
- Two or more races5.0% · 1,382
- Black or African American1.6% · 449
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 273
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 247
Gender
Gender distribution for Cade
Out of the 33,514 babies given the name Cade since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Cade as a male name
- Ranked #272 in 2024
- 1,260 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (1,811 births)
Cade as a female name
- Ranked #13,739 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cade appears almost entirely male. Of the 27,587 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Cade: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cade from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 13,722 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Cade remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cade 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 Cade during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cades live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Cade, while Vermont, Delaware, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 646 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cade
The name Cade has its origins in the Old English language. It is a medieval diminutive form of the name Caden, which is derived from the ancient Welsh name "Cadwn" or "Cadfan". The name Cadwn meant "battle" or "warrior". In its earliest forms, Cade was primarily used as a surname in Britain during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cade as a first name dates back to the 15th century. Jack Cade, an Irish-born rebel leader, led a popular revolt against the corrupt government of King Henry VI in 1450. This uprising became known as the Cade Rebellion or Cade's Revolt. While Jack Cade was likely his adopted name or alias, it helped establish the name Cade in historical records.
In literature, the name Cade appeared in William Shakespeare's play "Henry VI, Part 2", where Jack Cade is portrayed as a charismatic but ultimately misguided rebel. This further solidified the name's association with rebellion and uprising in the popular imagination.
Another notable historical figure with the name Cade was Cade Browning (1907-1996), an American soccer player and coach. He played for the United States national team and was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1986.
In more recent times, Cade Cunningham (born 2001) is an American professional basketball player currently playing for the Detroit Pistons in the NBA. He was selected as the first overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft.
Cade Dillard (born 1994) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has released several successful singles and albums, including his debut album "Thinkin' Out Loud" in 2021.
While the name Cade has ancient roots, its usage as a first name has become more widespread in modern times, particularly in English-speaking countries. Its enduring popularity can be attributed to its strong, masculine sound and its historical associations with rebellion and warriorhood.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Cade
People
Cade + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cade 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
Cade: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cade?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 33,057 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cade 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 10,369 US residents.
Is Cade a common name?
We classify Cade as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 33,514 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cade most popular?
The single biggest year for Cade was 2001, when 1,817 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cade is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cade in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 27,587 people with the name Cade, or 9.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,325 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 Cade 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 Cade?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cade appears almost entirely male. Of the 27,587 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Cade?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cade is White at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.2%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Cade most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cade in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.3% (23,814 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 Cade in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cade a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Cade 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 Cade still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cade 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 Cade 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 Cade?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Cade, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.