Alden

Alden has a long history of usage as a given name in the United States. It dates back to at least the late 19th century and maintained impressively moderate usage for the first part of the 20th century. It wasn’t until the 1930s and 40s that Alden began to slip from his middle of the list position. For the most part Alden would fall out of circulation for almost 30 years between the late 1960s and mid 1990s. Clearly Alden had become an “old friend” we all forgot about. Thanks to the 1990s, surnames were welcomed back into fashion. Alden still remains at the bottom of the charts (or close to it), but at least he’s there again. We adore the “old friend” meaning and think Alden has a simple, dignified Old English resonance. If nothing else, consider this one as a middle name, as in the famous astronaut Neil Alden Armstrong. If you’re weary of the overused Aiden or think Auden is too highfalutin’ literary or find Aldo too grandpa-ish, then Alden might be a name to consider. It’s one of those names that works well on a young boy but ages nicely into adulthood. The only problem with masculine surnames is that they have a history of jumping to the “pink” side, so we wouldn’t be surprised if this one gets picked up by parents of baby daughters at some point. Only they’ll probably spell it Aldyn.