Caid
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "great leader".
Name Census estimates that about 172 living Americans carry the first name Caid. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Caid today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caid births was 2001 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caid. 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 Caid with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
172
~ 1 in 1,992,758 Americans
Peak year
2001
14 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2021 SSA rank
#9,882
Tracked since 1995
Census
Caid in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 242 people with the first name Caid, which placed it at #33,953 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
#33,953
National first-name rank
People counted
242
242 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caid
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caid is White at 77.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Black (3.7%). 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 Caid 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 Caid at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.7% · 188
- Hispanic or Latino12.0% · 29
- Black or African American3.7% · 9
- Two or more races3.3% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 4
Popularity
Caid: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caid 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 85 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
Caid 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 Caid during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caid
The name Caid has its origins in Arabic and Celtic cultures, dating back to ancient times. In Arabic, the name is derived from the word "qaid," meaning "leader" or "commander." This suggests that the name may have been given to individuals who held positions of authority or leadership roles within their communities.
In Celtic cultures, particularly in Ireland and Scotland, the name Caid is believed to be a variant of the name "Cade," which itself is derived from the Gaelic word "cath," meaning "battle" or "warrior." This connection implies that the name may have been associated with individuals who were skilled in combat or had a reputation for their valor in battle.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Caid can be found in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient Irish chronicle dating back to the 15th century. The annals mention a individual named Caid mac Dáire, who was a chieftain of the Dál Riada kingdom in the late 6th century.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Caid. One such person was Caid ibn Idris (779-828 CE), a renowned scholar and philosopher from Fez, Morocco. He is known for his contributions to the fields of mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy during the Islamic Golden Age.
Another historical figure named Caid was Caid MacGregor (1555-1633), a Scottish clan chief and warrior who played a significant role in the conflicts between the MacGregor clan and the Crown during the 16th and 17th centuries.
In the realm of literature, there is mention of a character named Caid in the epic poem "The Táin Bó Cúailnge," one of the most significant works of Irish mythology and literature. Caid is depicted as a warrior and charioteer in service of the legendary hero Cú Chulainn.
Furthermore, the name Caid appears in religious texts, such as the Quran, where it is mentioned as a variant of the name "Qaid." In Islamic tradition, Qaid is considered one of the names of God, reflecting the divine attribute of leadership and guidance.
Other notable individuals who bore the name Caid include Caid ibn Ghanim (1072-1147), an Arab mathematician and astronomer from Valencia, Spain, and Caid al-Rashid (1197-1249), a Sufi mystic and poet from Persia.
People
Caid + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caid 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
Caid: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caid?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 172 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caid 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 1,992,758 US residents.
Is Caid a common name?
We classify Caid as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 174 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caid most popular?
The single biggest year for Caid was 2001, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caid 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 Caid in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 242 people with the name Caid, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,953 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 Caid 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 Caid?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caid leans strongly male. 238 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.7%). 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 Caid?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caid is White at 77.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.0%) and Black (3.7%). 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 Caid most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caid in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.7% (188 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 Caid in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caid a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caid 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 Caid still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caid 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 Caid 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 common is the name Caid?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Caid at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.