Kaydan
A name of Arabic origin meaning "destiny" or "fate."
Name Census estimates that about 836 living Americans carry the first name Kaydan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Kaydan today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaydan births was 2011 (59 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaydan. 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 Kaydan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
836
~ 1 in 409,993 Americans
Peak year
2011
59 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,762
Tracked since 2001
Census
Kaydan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 704 people with the first name Kaydan, which placed it at #16,121 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
#16,121
National first-name rank
People counted
704
704 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kaydan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaydan is White at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Black (20.2%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Kaydan 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 Kaydan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.8% · 393
- Black or African American20.2% · 142
- Hispanic or Latino9.4% · 66
- Two or more races8.9% · 63
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Kaydan
Kaydan leans heavily male at 84.1% of total registrations, but 134 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kaydan as a male name
- Ranked #5,762 in 2024
- 16 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (50 births)
Kaydan as a female name
- Ranked #11,319 in 2016
- 9 female births in 2016
- Peak: 2006 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kaydan on both sides of the split. Of the 701 people counted with this name, 551 were male (78.6%) and 150 were female (21.4%).
Popularity
Kaydan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaydan from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 436 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kaydan 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 Kaydan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaydans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kaydan, while Oklahoma, Michigan, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaydan
The name Kaydan is a unique and intriguing one with roots that stretch back to ancient civilizations. Its origins can be traced to the Sumerian language, which was spoken in the region of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq and parts of Syria and Iran) between the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE. In Sumerian, the word "kad" meant "to endure" or "to last," while "an" was a suffix used to form names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of a similar name can be found in the Sumerian King List, an ancient manuscript that chronicles the rulers of various Sumerian city-states. Around 2600 BCE, a ruler named Kad-an-ni is mentioned as the king of the city-state of Kish. While the spelling is slightly different, the resemblance to Kaydan is evident.
As civilizations rose and fell in the region, the name Kaydan or its variations may have been adopted and adapted by other cultures. In the ancient Persian empire, which ruled over much of the Middle East from the 6th century BCE to the 7th century CE, a similar name, "Kadān," was used. This name is believed to have been derived from the Persian word "kâdan," meaning "to dig" or "to excavate."
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Kaydan or its variations. One such individual was Kaydan al-Naysaburi, a renowned Persian scholar and philosopher who lived in the 10th century CE. He was known for his contributions to the fields of logic and metaphysics.
Another figure of note was Kaydan Khan, a powerful Mongolian ruler who lived in the 13th century CE. He was a descendant of Genghis Khan and played a significant role in the expansion of the Mongol Empire across Asia and parts of Europe.
In the realm of literature, Kaydan al-Isfahani was a celebrated Persian poet who lived in the 11th century CE. His works, which often explored themes of love and spirituality, have been widely studied and appreciated throughout the centuries.
Moving forward in time, Kaydan Mirza was a prominent military leader and statesman in the Mughal Empire, which ruled over much of the Indian subcontinent from the 16th to the 19th century. He served as a governor and military commander under several Mughal emperors and was known for his strategic acumen and loyalty.
While the name Kaydan may not be as common today as it once was, its rich history and diverse cultural influences make it a unique and fascinating choice for a given name.
People
Kaydan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaydan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kaydan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaydan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 836 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaydan 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 409,993 US residents.
Is Kaydan a common name?
We classify Kaydan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 843 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaydan most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaydan was 2011, when 59 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaydan is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kaydan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 704 people with the name Kaydan, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,121 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 Kaydan 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 Kaydan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kaydan on both sides of the split. Of the 701 people counted with this name, 551 were male (78.6%) and 150 were female (21.4%). 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 Kaydan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaydan is White at 55.8%. The next largest groups are Black (20.2%) and Hispanic (9.4%). 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 Kaydan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kaydan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.8% (393 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 Kaydan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kaydan a male name?
Yes, 84.1% of people registered as Kaydan 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 Kaydan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kaydan 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 Kaydan 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 Kaydan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.