Holden
Holden was given to 1,140 boys in 2025, #297 among boys’ names; 32,795 Americans have been recorded with it since 1902 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 32,200 Americans named Holden and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 12 years old and half are between 7 and 20.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Holden by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Holden mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Holden is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
/ˈhoʊldən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Holden?
#297 among boys’ names, 2025
Holden fell from #291 in 2015 to #297 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 0.65 to 0.67 per 1,000.
1,757 babies in 2018, the peak
Holden peaked in 2018, when 1,757 babies were given it (1,732 boys, #217 among boys’ names). The 1,146 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 65% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,140 | #297 | 0.67 |
| 2024 | 1,209 | #281 | 0.70 |
| 2023 | 1,176 | #286 | 0.69 |
| 2022 | 1,219 | #285 | 0.70 |
| 2021 | 1,507 | #236 | 0.86 |
| 2020 | 1,648 | #227 | 1.0 |
| 2019 | 1,468 | #250 | 0.82 |
| 2018 | 1,732 | #217 | 1.0 |
| 2017 | 1,531 | #242 | 0.83 |
| 2016 | 1,356 | #270 | 0.71 |
Every recorded year (94)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,254 | #291 | 0.65 |
| 2014 | 1,218 | #291 | 0.63 |
| 2013 | 1,206 | #289 | 0.64 |
| 2012 | 1,177 | #296 | 0.62 |
| 2011 | 1,114 | #299 | 0.59 |
| 2010 | 1,011 | #317 | 0.53 |
| 2009 | 955 | #335 | 0.48 |
| 2008 | 877 | #357 | 0.43 |
| 2007 | 812 | #378 | 0.39 |
| 2006 | 777 | #385 | 0.38 |
| 2005 | 830 | #357 | 0.42 |
| 2004 | 747 | #371 | 0.38 |
| 2003 | 619 | #415 | 0.31 |
| 2002 | 614 | #413 | 0.32 |
| 2001 | 547 | #443 | 0.28 |
| 2000 | 527 | #453 | 0.27 |
| 1999 | 542 | #431 | 0.28 |
| 1998 | 562 | #418 | 0.29 |
| 1997 | 451 | #477 | 0.24 |
| 1996 | 323 | #566 | 0.17 |
| 1995 | 299 | #597 | 0.16 |
| 1994 | 298 | #602 | 0.15 |
| 1993 | 267 | #630 | 0.14 |
| 1992 | 224 | #691 | 0.11 |
| 1991 | 234 | #660 | 0.12 |
| 1990 | 182 | #751 | 0.09 |
| 1989 | 146 | #817 | 0.07 |
| 1988 | 143 | #793 | 0.07 |
| 1987 | 107 | #909 | 0.06 |
| 1986 | 58 | #1,272 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 16 | #3,001 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 17 | #2,741 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 7 | #5,126 | under 0.01 |
| 1982 | 12 | #3,569 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 9 | #4,294 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 11 | #3,710 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 6 | #5,628 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 12 | #3,283 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 5 | #6,227 | under 0.01 |
| 1976 | 7 | #4,608 | under 0.01 |
| 1975 | 8 | #4,088 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 6 | #4,737 | under 0.01 |
| 1969 | 9 | #3,169 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 8 | #3,215 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,690 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 9 | #2,875 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 5 | #4,287 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 9 | #2,936 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 8 | #3,152 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 8 | #3,209 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,189 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 9 | #2,912 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 7 | #3,381 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 7 | #3,341 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 7 | #3,319 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 5 | #4,066 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,593 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 6 | #3,528 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 5 | #3,931 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 5 | #3,973 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 5 | #3,760 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 6 | #3,370 | under 0.01 |
| 1941 | 5 | #3,738 | under 0.01 |
| 1940 | 6 | #3,276 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 5 | #3,750 | under 0.01 |
| 1937 | 5 | #3,764 | under 0.01 |
| 1936 | 5 | #3,779 | under 0.01 |
| 1935 | 5 | #3,901 | under 0.01 |
| 1932 | 6 | #3,548 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 8 | #2,958 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 5 | #4,246 | under 0.01 |
| 1928 | 9 | #2,939 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 6 | #3,957 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 5 | #4,641 | under 0.01 |
| 1923 | 11 | #2,688 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 11 | #2,701 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 11 | #2,704 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 10 | #2,856 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 5 | #4,450 | under 0.01 |
| 1917 | 5 | #4,246 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,593 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 7 | #2,773 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,023 | 0.01 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,214 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Holden a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Holden has been given almost only to boys: 288 girls in 94 years of records.
Girls and boys named Holden: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Holden, and how old are they?
32,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 32,795 Americans ever recorded as Holden. The median Holden alive today is 12 years old; half are between 7 and 20.
The 2020 Census counted 23,449 people named Holden (258 women and girls, 23,191 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 24,800 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 12 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 66 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 77 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,250 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 12,100 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 17,700 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Holden born?
The states with the most babies named Holden are Texas, Ohio and North Carolina, with 20% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 89 | #400 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 82 | #165 | 1.4× |
| North Carolina | 57 | #219 | 1.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 51 | #240 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 50 | #386 | 0.7× |
| California | 45 | #630 | 0.5× |
| Indiana | 45 | #191 | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 43 | #237 | 0.9× |
| Tennessee | 37 | #239 | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 36 | #300 | 0.8× |
Where Holden is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Holden is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1910 it was given 1.8 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Holden with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 33,611 babies since 1880, Holden is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,146 of their 1,163 babies (99%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Holden
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Holden and names like it
- Compare Holden and HoldynBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sHolden peaked in 2018.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Holden since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Holden: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2018The year the most babies were named Holden.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Holden alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with HMost given first.