Arden
Meaning
from an English surname taken from various place names, from a Celtic word meaning 'high'
The story
Arden comes from an English surname, taken from various place names that derive from a Celtic word meaning "high", says Behind the Name. The American record shows a name with two lives running on different clocks. The boys' line did its work early: about 680 boys in the 1910s, about 1,160 in the 1920s, about 1,270 in the 1930s, then a long slide. The girls' line arrived late: about 630 girls in the 1990s, about 1,500 in the 2000s, about 2,400 in the 2010s. And this decade the two lines nearly meet, about 1,450 girls and about 1,170 boys so far. A Celtic word for high ground that spent the 1930s as a boy's name, the 2010s as a girl's name, and is currently both at once.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Arden peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
The Arden deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Arden 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 Arden fits with your family’s names and surname.
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