The baby name Camden reads like a cross between Cameron and London.
Thanks to Tracy for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
THE MEANING OF THE NAME CAMDEN
The baby name Camden started out as a place name. It lost a letter along the way, too. Campden came from camp – enclosure – plus den – valley.
Visit the Cotswolds – the quintessential England of rolling countryside and picturesque villages – to find Chipping Camden. Created as a market town in the 1100s, it’s well-preserved today, once a significant place in the wool trade and now popular with visitors. Chipping comes from an Old English word meaning market.
In the 1700s, politician Charles Pratt was given the title Earl Camden. The area of London known as Camden Town – or just Camden – was named for his title. (The title, in turn, came from Pratt’s family estate, Camden Place.) Because of a key location on the canals and then the rail lines, the area has always bustled with activity. It’s now part of the London Borough of Camden.
But it’s not just commercial activity. Camden has long been a center for bohemian and creative life in London. It’s been home to everyone from Madness to Mary Shelley, Charles Dickens to Oasis. George Orwell and Dylan Thomas lived in the area around the same time. The Camden Markets – there are half a dozen – draw tens of thousands of visitors every weekend, selling everything from music to mirrors. You can watch Kate Winslet walk around the area in her famous ad for American Express.
LONDON to the US
As it happens, Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, would prove popular in the American Colonies. He opposed British tax policy overseas, making him quite popular with the fledgling nation. As a result, over a dozen places in the US are named Camden, several directly for Pratt.
Camden, New Jersey might be the best known. It’s the biggest city in the US by the name, home to a busy port. The city has struggled in recent decades, which might’ve hurt the name’s image. But plenty of other Camdens shape the our perception of the name, too.
LAST NAME TURNED FIRST NAME
The baby name Camden carries a long history as a place name and surname. Naturally it appears in the name data, too, in small numbers as early as 1915.
It took until the year 1990 for Camden to crack the US Top 1000, though.
What put it there?
- It followed Scottish surname Cameron into greater use, another way to get to friendly nickname Cam.
- Long-running WB series 7th Heaven featured the Camden family from 1996 into 2007.
- In 1992, Camden Yards opened in Baltimore, home of the Baltimore Orioles.
- And, of course, the 1990s were a good moment for place names and two-syllable boy names ending with N.
In 2012, Nick and Vanessa Lachey welcomed a son named Camden. Their choice was inspired by a Los Angeles street name. Around the same time, Kristin Cavallari and Jay Sparks also welcomed their first together – also a son named Camden.
The one-two punch took this already rising name and landed it in the US Top 100, at #99, in 2013.
HOW POPULAR IS THE BABY NAME CAMDEN?
Since peaking in 2013, the baby name Camden has slowly drifted into more sparing use. But as of 2023, it still ranks a healthy #181. That’s comparable to Finn, Maxwell, or Zachary.
MODERN MAINSTAY
Call the baby name Camden a modern mainstay.
It may have rocketed into the rankings, a 1990 debut that no one expected to climb so high. But after thirty years of steady use, the baby name Camden sounds like a strong, reliable name for a son. We associate Camden just barely with London and Baltimore, a name that’s equal parts creative and athletic. And friendly nickname Cam suits nearly any personality.
Now that the name is no longer barreling up the charts, it’s a good choice for parents seeking something current that’s (probably) not the next big thing. It’s a little less expected than Ryan, but not as new as Dutton. That probably hits a sweet spot for plenty of families.
What do you think of the baby name Camden?
First published on February 28, 2011, this post was revised substantially and republished on August 26, 2024.
I’m not sure how I would feel about Camden if I didn’t know any, but because I know a few (all girls), I can’t really see it on a boy. Of course, I don’t like it on a girl so I wouldn’t consider using it anyway. I think the trendiness of it and the variation/ misspelling Camdyn have turned it into one of “those names” for me: names heard so frequently that people start inserting random Ys to make them “unique”.
On second thought, I can almost picture it on a boy when I think of it only as a surname from 7th Heaven.
I’m a fan of the Cotswolds (such a gorgeous part of England!), but I’m not really a fan of place names as given names.
On a different note, the etymology of this name had me wondering how connected it is to Campbell. You state, “It probably started out as Campden, from camp
Yes, different origins — Campbell is Gaelic [ca(i)m beul] and Camden is most likely Old English.
I was raised in MI and now I live in NJ so I would never think of using Flint, Camden, Trenton, Brooklyn, Hudson Aurora, or even Gary.
For place names I think it’s better to use names of really big cities that are transcendent, like London or even (gasp!) Paris. Or use a city name that is special to you. Friends of mine conceived their daughter while living in Brooklyn then they moved back to the Midwest and so her middle name is Brooklyn.
Yeah, count me amongst the Jersey natives. I think anyone in the area would probably find the use of the name on a child kind of weird. But that’s why I’m not generally a fan of place names – they can be really hit or miss, ya know?
I’m originally from New Jersey, and the town is the first thing I think of as well. Camden is consistently voted the worst city in the country to live. It isn’t a place I’d ever want to live- and I’m from Newark!
I like Camden. It sounds smart and sophisticated and very in vogue right now. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I don’t quite know. It does make me think of Camden Yards – weird because I’m not an Orioles fan, per se – but it’s got some history to it. I’d say Camden is way fresher than Cameron, which I’m plain tired of at this point. Cam’s always cool, though, right? Camden and Wesley would make nice brothers…
The gritty crime ridden New Jersey town is my first thought as well. That and the bastardized spellings of Camden in the my local paper’s birth announcements. (There was a Kamdyn recently.)
Not surprisingly (given my previous comments about masculine-sounding names on girls being done to death), I don’t like this one, especially for a girl. I guess I don’t quite understand giving your child the name of a place to which you’ve no personal connection, though I do understand that many people choose a name primarily because of the way it sounds rather than its meaning or its use elsewhere. I can’t see anything appealing about Cam, Cammy or Denny, either.
I do empathize with the difficulty of finding a name you and your partner agree on, though! If this turns out to be “the” name, it certainly won’t be weird or out of place in a world where Peyton, Madison and Brooklyn are very common names for girls.
On a different note, I just learned that some friends of ours have a grandson named Kaisen. I don’t know how they’re pronouncing it, but I have the Caisson Song going through my head…
Surprising I like this. It feels closer to Calvin than Cameron to me. I also like the potential nn Denny.
Camden Town and the Regent’s Canal – ah, what memories from living in London.