# Alden (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/alden/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | English |
| Meaning | “old”, “friend” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Olden |
| US babies named this | 19,173 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 18,221 / 952 (5% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 221, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old English Ealdwine, from eald (“old”) + wine (“friend”); equivalent to Alwin. In some cases a variant of Haldane.

## What it means

Alden is grouped under friend.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 16 | 7,454 |
| 2012 | 26 | 5,259 |
| 2013 | 19 | 6,475 |
| 2014 | 20 | 6,220 |
| 2015 | 16 | 7,287 |
| 2016 | 16 | 7,249 |
| 2017 | 22 | 5,668 |
| 2018 | 20 | 6,024 |
| 2019 | 15 | 7,360 |
| 2020 | 21 | 5,672 |
| 2021 | 31 | 4,415 |
| 2022 | 19 | 6,241 |
| 2023 | 25 | 5,134 |
| 2024 | 25 | 5,155 |
| 2025 | 19 | 6,125 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 244 | 864 |
| 2012 | 294 | 772 |
| 2013 | 331 | 709 |
| 2014 | 337 | 714 |
| 2015 | 340 | 725 |
| 2016 | 392 | 660 |
| 2017 | 409 | 634 |
| 2018 | 411 | 638 |
| 2019 | 435 | 623 |
| 2020 | 387 | 672 |
| 2021 | 394 | 676 |
| 2022 | 445 | 627 |
| 2023 | 431 | 640 |
| 2024 | 494 | 576 |
| 2025 | 479 | 598 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 10 | 2,039 |
| 2012 | 4 | 3,987 |
| 2013 | 4 | 3,822 |
| 2014 | 13 | 1,721 |
| 2015 | 7 | 2,707 |
| 2016 | 8 | 2,556 |
| 2017 | 12 | 1,923 |
| 2018 | 14 | 1,683 |
| 2019 | 10 | 2,104 |
| 2020 | 14 | 1,635 |
| 2021 | 15 | 1,595 |
| 2022 | 24 | 1,143 |
| 2023 | 14 | 1,701 |
| 2024 | 10 | 2,263 |
| 2025 | 16 | 1,613 |

## People named Alden

- Alden Ehrenreich, American actor
- J. Alden Weir, American artist (1852-1919)
- Alden Sanborn, American rower (1899-1991)
- Alden W. Clausen, American businessman, President of the World Bank, 1981-1986
- Alden Richards, Filipino actor and television personality
- Philip Alden Kuhn, American historian and sinologist (1933–2016)
- Alden McLaughlin, Caymanian politician
- Peter North, Canadian pornographic actor
- Perfume Genius, American musician
- Stu Cook, American bass player

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.