I did an analysis of baby boys with -ayden names last weekend and discovered that roughly 5% of the boys born in the U.S. last year have a name that rhymes with Jayden.
This weekend, I did the same analysis for baby girls. I sat down with the SSA’s baby name list for 2009, picked out all the female -ayden names, and counted both the number of the variants and the number of babies with each variant.
Here’s what I found, sorted by ending:
-dan [239 babies, 9 variants]
- -adan [18]
- Jadan, 13
- Adan, 5
- -aedan [8]
- Jaedan, 8
- -aidan [111]
- Aidan, 79
- Jaidan, 32
- -aydan [102]
- Jaydan, 39
- Aydan, 37
- Kaydan, 16
- Haydan, 10
-den [7226 babies, 33 variants]
- -aden [746]
- Jaden, 554
- Kaden, 78
- Caden, 56
- Aden, 31
- Paden, 10
- Shaden, 7
- Aaden, 5
- Haden, 5
- -aeden [98]
- Jaeden, 56
- Kaeden, 15
- Haeden, 8
- Braeden, 7
- Caeden, 7
- Raeden, 5
- -aiden [966]
- Jaiden, 538
- Haiden, 134
- Kaiden, 120
- Aiden, 112
- Caiden, 38
- Raiden, 15
- Paiden, 9
- -ayden [5416]
- Hayden, 2456
- Jayden, 1738
- Kayden, 707
- Ayden, 174
- Cayden, 156
- Payden, 56
- Brayden, 55
- Tayden, 21
- Rayden, 17
- Shayden, 17
- Zayden, 13
- Layden, 6
-din [282 babies, 11 variants]
- -adin [54]
- Jadin, 36
- Kadin, 10
- Adin, 8
- -aedin [9]
- Jaedin, 9
- -aidin [18]
- Jaidin, 12
- Aidin, 6
- -aydin [201]
- Jaydin, 87
- Kaydin, 56
- Haydin, 32
- Aydin, 21
- Caydin, 5
-dn [62 babies, 3 variants]
- -adn [0]
- -aedn [0]
- -aidn [0]
- -aydn [62]
- Jaydn, 29
- Haydn, 25
- Kaydn, 8
-don [37 babies, 4 variants]
- -adon [9]
- Jadon, 9
- -aedon [0]
- -aidon [6]
- Jaidon, 6
- -aydon [22]
- Jaydon, 15
- Haydon, 7
-dyn [2155 babies, 25 variants]
- -adyn [901]
- Jadyn, 683
- Kadyn, 112
- Hadyn, 41
- Cadyn, 34
- Bradyn, 10
- Adyn, 9
- Aadyn, 7
- Padyn, 5
- -aedyn [310]
- Jaedyn, 176
- Kaedyn, 47
- Haedyn, 42
- Raedyn, 15
- Aedyn, 11
- Braedyn, 11
- Caedyn, 8
- -aidyn [823]
- Jaidyn, 460
- Haidyn, 159
- Kaidyn, 107
- Aidyn, 48
- Caidyn, 34
- Braidyn, 9
- Raidyn, 6
- -aydyn [121]
- Jaydyn, 65
- Haydyn, 32
- Kaydyn, 24
-d*nn [112 babies, 11 variants]
- -dann [5]
- -aydann
- Jaydann, 5
- -aydann
- -denn [10]
- -adenn
- Jadenn, 5
- -aydenn
- Jaydenn, 5
- -adenn
- -dynn [97]
- -adynn
- Jadynn, 31
- Kadynn, 5
- -aedynn
- Jaedynn, 11
- -aidynn
- Jaidynn, 24
- Kaidynn, 8
- Aidynn, 6
- Haidynn, 5
- -aydynn
- Jaydynn, 7
- -adynn
And now let’s add it all up:
| Ending | Babies | Variants |
|---|---|---|
| -dan | 239 | 9 |
| -den | 7,226 | 33 |
| -din | 282 | 11 |
| -dn | 62 | 3 |
| -don | 37 | 4 |
| -dyn | 2,155 | 25 |
| -d*nn | 112 | 11 |
| TOTAL | 10,113 | 96 |
Of the (at least) 2,001,968 baby girls born last year, (at least) 10,113 were given an -ayden name. That’s about 0.5%, or about 1 in 200.
Of the 20,036 girl names on the SSA’s list, 96 are -ayden names. That’s also about 0.5%.
These percentages are a lot lower than the 4.9% and the 1.9% we saw last week, but still impressive. A total of 10,113 girls would theoretically put the -ayden name-group somewhere between #12 Addison (10,567) and #13 Alexis (9,839) in the rankings.
Update: Want to know how many babies (total) got an -ayden name in 2009?
[Disclaimer: I’m assuming all of the variants above rhyme with Jayden, but I can’t make any guarantees about pronunciation. Also, I didn’t count the following: variants with 2-vowel endings (e.g. -dien, -deyn) and variants that look like Eden and Madden.]
UPDATE: Is the -Ayden Craze Over?