Walden
From an English surname meaning "valley of modern people".
Name Census estimates that about 986 living Americans carry the first name Walden. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Walden today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Walden births was 2023 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Walden. 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
986
~ 1 in 347,621 Americans
Peak year
2023
55 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,202
Tracked since 1908
Popularity
Walden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Walden from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 350 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Walden remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Walden 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 Walden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Waldens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Walden, while Massachusetts, Colorado, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Walden
The name Walden is an English given name derived from the Old English words "walden" meaning "valley" and "denu" meaning "hill." It originates from the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD, and is believed to have been used as a topographic name, referring to someone who lived in or near a valley surrounded by hills.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Walden can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and properties in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Waldene," referring to a place name in Essex.
In literature, the name Walden gained prominence with the publication of Henry David Thoreau's influential work "Walden; or, Life in the Woods" in 1854. The book chronicles Thoreau's experience living in a cabin near Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, and his reflections on simple living, self-reliance, and civil disobedience.
Notable individuals who bore the name Walden throughout history include:
1. Walden Bello (born 1945), a Filipino author, academic, and political analyst known for his work on globalization and social movements.
2. Walden Gallman (1922-2013), an American economist and professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, known for his contributions to economic history.
3. Walden Rhines (born 1944), an American businessman and co-founder of Mentor Graphics, a leading electronic design automation company.
4. Walden Pratt (1805-1849), an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. Representative from New York.
5. Walden P. Muir (1886-1965), an American architect who designed numerous buildings in Los Angeles, including the Richfield Tower and the Los Angeles City Hall.
While the name Walden may have originated as a topographic descriptor, it has since transcended its literal meaning and become associated with ideas of simplicity, self-sufficiency, and appreciation for nature, thanks in part to the enduring legacy of Thoreau's literary masterpiece.
People
Walden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Walden as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Walden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Walden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 986 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Walden 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 347,621 US residents.
Is Walden a common name?
We classify Walden as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,490 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Walden most popular?
The single biggest year for Walden was 2023, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Walden is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Walden a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Walden 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.