[OC] Popularity and gender split for -ayden names (Aiden, Bradon, Jayden, etc.) in the US

    by MurphGH

    25 Comments

    1. **Data source:** U.S. Social Security Administration (1880–2024)

      **Tools:** Python / [pronouncing](https://pypi.org/project/pronouncing/) / SQL / Hex / Figma

      I used Python’s pronouncing library to find every name that rhymes with “Aiden.” This produced a ton of false positives, so I narrowed it down to names with exactly two syllables where both syllables rhymed.

      That gave me 395 names. From there, I said each one aloud and removed 63 remaining false positives (like Jadelyn, Adysen, and Radine) to end up with 332 likely rhyming names. I sorted by total babies ever given each name and used the top 50 for this graphic.

      I wanted to scale the circles linearly, but the drop-off in popularity is enormous. Jayden has 159× the usage of Aayden, so I used square root scaling to manage the huge range.

    2. **The -ayden Alphabet**: *The most popular name for each letter and its rank among the 332 names*

      A: Aiden (#2)
      B: Brayden (#4)
      C: Caden (#9)
      D: Drayden (#44)
      E: Eyden (#77)
      F: Fayden (#287)
      G: Graydon (#39)
      H: Hayden (#3)
      I: —
      J: Jayden (#1)
      K: Kayden (#8)
      L: Layden (#63)
      M: Maden (#236)
      N: Nayden (#153)
      O: —
      P: Payden (#46)
      Q: Quayden (#326)
      R: Raiden (#21)
      S: Shayden (#60)
      T: Tayden (#40)
      U: —
      V: Vaden (#97)
      W: Wayden (#151)
      X: Xaiden (#58)
      Y: Yaiden (#155)
      Z: Zayden (#16)

      Looks like Okayden still hasn’t caught on…

    3. Probably unfair that I immediately judge someone with these names, when it’s the parents that were the morons

    4. Accomplished_Item_86 on

      Interesting visuaization! Seems like -dyn is much more popular for female names, while names with -don are almost exclusively male. Even though they are pronounced the same!

    5. Local-Echo-5613 on

      Girls have names like Jadyn and Jaidyn, while boys have names like Jaydyn and Jaiden. Biology 101.

    6. Damn, Will and Jada Smith really changed the entire country. It’s amazing and kinda scary the influence movie stars have

    7. As a teacher I’m begging y’all to find different names. Last semester I had one class with 4 different Jayden’s and 4 different spellings. It hurts my brain. It makes me delirious. I would randomly yell JAYDEN when I needed something and 10 people would answer WHICH ONE. Call and response: type B teacher style.

    8. dodekahedron on

      I remember when I was a preteen i thought braeden for a boy and faelyn for a girl were the ultimate baby names.

      I was a preteen in the early 2000s.

      My kid thanks me for not getting an aiden name

    9. I’m a Paden. A male born in 1989 and named after the movie Silverado. I like my name. Growing up in the 90s I never knew anyone else with any kind of “Ayden” name. I still haven’t met anyone with my same name spelled the same way.

    10. As an Irish person it’s sad to see the fall of Aidan as a name. Always thought it was lovely but now it’s been damaged by these truly awful names

    11. Anyone knows how this trend started? The oldest Aiden i know was born in the 1995s.

    12. I named mine after Hayden Christensen because I loved him and his name and my husband is a big star wars guy 😭 tbf I really wanted the name Holden but was vetoed by my husband.

    13. Retrospectrenet on

      Oh oh oh do the 1950s Gary, Larry, Barry, Harry graph! Maybe add in Jerry, Kerry, Terry too.

    14. This does seem to just be a US-thing.

      Here in the UK I’ve only ever seen Aidan (a very normal, traditional name that’s been common for centuries – lots of churches near me are named after St. Aidan) and Braydon (a “new” name, but it’s always spelled with -on and never -en).

    15. Sadly we’re gonna be dealing with people with these names for the rest of our lives

    16. metamorphomo on

      Lmao I thought the brayden Jayden memes were over blowing it. As a Brit this is hilarious.

      Signed, Homunculus Littlerod-Bones.

    17. Comfortable-Note-275 on

      My son’s name is Aiden and his girlfriend name is Jaden, their kid name is Kaiden

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