Holden
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Meaning
from an English place name and surname meaning "deep valley"
The story
Holden’s name history starts in a deep valley; its famous fictional bearer keeps wondering about a city’s ducks. The given name comes from a surname drawn from an Old English place name meaning "deep valley". In J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is the sixteen-year-old narrator who leaves his Pennsylvania prep school and spends three days in New York. Amid those wanderings, he asks cab drivers where the Central Park ducks go when their lagoon freezes. That question gives his restless story a small, vulnerable point of attention. Outside the novel, the Central Park Conservancy says visitors ask it too: some ducks migrate, while mallards stay and find open water. The real park’s answer belongs outside Salinger’s fiction, but the recurring question brings its narrator unexpectedly close to an ordinary visitor looking across the water.
How popular is Holden around the world?
In the United States, 7,983 babies were named Holden between 2020 and 2025.
Holden is on the official records of the United States, Canada, Scotland, England and Wales and Brazil.
United States
1 in 2,700
In the United States, 7,983 babies were named Holden between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Holden peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 3,500
In Canada, 104 boys named Holden were born in 2024, the 317th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Scotland
1 in 11,000
In Scotland, 4 boys named Holden were registered in 2024, the 619th most common name among boys that year.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
England and Wales
1 in 45,000
In England and Wales, 13 boys named Holden were born in 2025, ranked 1,897th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Argentina
last on record 2017
Holden is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 20 people in Brazil were named Holden, ranked 124,180th, with a median age of 45.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Montevideo City
last on record 1943
Holden is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
New Zealand
last on record 2004
Holden is not on the 2025 record for New Zealand, where names under 10 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
South Australia
last on record 2016
Holden is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Puerto Rico, Ireland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Holden
Most people given the name Holden in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Holden deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Holden 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 Holden fits with your family’s names and surname.
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