Carden
A place name referring to an English town or settlement.
Name Census estimates that about 446 living Americans carry the first name Carden. It is a predominantly male name (91.8% of registrations). The average person named Carden today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carden births was 2008 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carden. 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.
People living today
446
~ 1 in 768,507 Americans
Peak year
2008
37 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,884
Tracked since 1998
Gender
Gender distribution for Carden
Carden leans heavily male at 91.8% of total registrations, but 37 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Carden as a male name
- Ranked #6,884 in 2024
- 12 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (28 births)
Carden as a female name
- Ranked #15,631 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2008 (9 births)
Popularity
Carden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carden from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 228 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Carden remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carden 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 Carden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cardens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Carden
The name Carden is believed to have its origins in the English language, derived from the Old English word "caerden," which means "enclosed garden" or "garden enclosure." This suggests that the name may have been initially used as a surname or a place name referring to someone who lived near or owned a walled garden or enclosed area for cultivating plants.
The name Carden can be traced back to the Middle Ages in England, where it was used as a surname in various regions of the country. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which mentions a landowner named Rodbert de Carden in Cambridgeshire.
During the medieval period, the name Carden was also associated with various noble families and landowners in different parts of England. For example, the Carden family was prominent in Cheshire, and their ancestral seat was Carden Hall, which dates back to the 13th century.
One notable historical figure who bore the name Carden was Sir Robert Carden (c. 1550-1624), an English soldier and courtier during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He served as a captain in the English army and was knighted for his services in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War against Spain.
Another individual with the name Carden was John Carden (1637-1686), an English clergyman and academic who served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1677 to 1679.
In the 18th century, Carden gained prominence as a first name, particularly among the upper classes in England. One example is John Carden (1753-1825), a British naval officer who served during the American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. He rose to the rank of Vice Admiral in the Royal Navy.
Another notable figure was Sir John Carden (1771-1858), a British army officer who served in the Peninsular War against Napoleon's forces in Spain and Portugal. He was knighted for his military service and later became a Member of Parliament.
While the name Carden has its roots in England, it has also been used in other English-speaking countries, particularly in the United States and Canada, where it may have been adopted by families with English ancestral origins.
People
Carden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carden 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
Carden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 446 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carden 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 768,507 US residents.
Is Carden a common name?
We classify Carden as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 450 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carden most popular?
The single biggest year for Carden was 2008, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carden is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Carden a male name?
Yes, 91.8% of people registered as Carden 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.
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.