Alden
Meaning
from a surname from the Old English name Ealdwine: eald "old" + wine "friend"
The story
Alden comes from a surname derived from the Old English given name Ealdwine, built from eald, "old", and wine, "friend". Behind the Name adds the melancholy note that the original was rarely used after the Norman Conquest; the surname carried it the rest of the way. The American record is one of the steadiest on these pages: on the books every decade since the 1890s, mostly a few hundred to about 1,700 a decade for a century, then about 2,300 in the 2000s, about 3,400 in the 2010s, and about 2,600 so far this decade. An old friend is precisely what the name reads as: rarely used after the Conquest, the source says, carried on as a surname, and back now at levels the first century of its American record never reached.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Alden peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
109 people · the #38,860 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 38
Among people named Alden living in Brazil at the 2022 census, roughly as many were born in the 1980s as in the 1990s, more than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Alden
Most people given the name Alden in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Alden deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Alden truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Alden fits with your family’s names and surname.
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