Paden
A modern, unisex name of uncertain, potentially Welsh origin meaning "valley" or "meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 1,927 living Americans carry the first name Paden. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Paden today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Paden births was 1992 (79 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Paden. 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
1.9K
~ 1 in 177,869 Americans
Peak year
1992
79 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,376
Tracked since 1985
Census
Paden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,769 people with the first name Paden, which placed it at #8,238 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
#8,238
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,769 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Paden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paden is White at 82.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.4%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Paden 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 Paden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.5% · 1,460
- Two or more races6.4% · 113
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 75
- Black or African American3.8% · 68
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 34
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 19
Gender
Gender distribution for Paden
Paden leans heavily male at 89.9% of total registrations, but 198 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Paden as a male name
- Ranked #5,376 in 2024
- 18 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1987 (78 births)
Paden as a female name
- Ranked #17,149 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2002 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Paden leans strongly male. 1,549 people counted with this name were male (87.8%), compared with 215 female bearers (12.2%).
Popularity
Paden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Paden from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 639 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
Paden 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 Paden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Padens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Texas, California, Utah recorded the most babies named Paden, while Washington, Ohio, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Paden
The name Paden is believed to have originated from the Gaelic language, which was historically spoken in parts of Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. It is thought to be derived from the Gaelic word "paidean," which means "little Patrick."
Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. He is the primary patron saint of Ireland and is celebrated annually on March 17th, known as St. Patrick's Day. The name Paden was likely a diminutive form of Patrick used as a given name in its own right.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Paden can be traced back to medieval Scotland and Ireland. It was particularly common in the Scottish Highlands and the northern regions of Ireland. The name was often anglicized to "Paton" or "Patton" in some areas.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Paden was Paden of Inchaffray, a Scottish monk who lived in the 12th century and served as the Prior of Inchaffray Abbey in Perthshire, Scotland. Another notable bearer of the name was Paden Fitz Walter, an Irish clergyman who served as the Archbishop of Tuam in the late 12th century.
In the 16th century, a Scottish family named Paden gained prominence in Ayrshire. Sir Walter Paden, born in 1520, was a prominent landowner and military commander who fought in the Scottish Wars of Independence against England.
Later, in the 17th century, Paden Dougherty, born in 1647, was an Irish Presbyterian minister known for his fiery sermons and his opposition to the anti-Presbyterian policies of the Church of England in Ireland.
Another historical figure with the name Paden was Paden Fairfax, an English poet and playwright born in 1788. He was known for his satirical works and his criticism of the social and political establishment of his time.
People
Paden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Paden as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Paden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Paden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,927 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Paden 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 177,869 US residents.
Is Paden a common name?
We classify Paden as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,964 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Paden most popular?
The single biggest year for Paden was 1992, when 79 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Paden is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Paden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,769 people with the name Paden, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,238 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 Paden 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 Paden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Paden leans strongly male. 1,549 people counted with this name were male (87.8%), compared with 215 female bearers (12.2%). 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 Paden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paden is White at 82.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.4%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Paden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Paden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.5% (1,460 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 Paden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Paden a male name?
Yes, 89.9% of people registered as Paden 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 Paden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Paden 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 Paden 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 Americans are named Paden?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.