Braden comes from the Irish surname Ó Bradáin, meaning "descendant of Bradán", a personal name that means "salmon", a fish of wisdom in Irish legend. It joined the wave of two-syllable -en and -den names for boys around the turn of the millennium. In the United States Braden ranked number 204 in 2000, peaked at number 133 in 2005 and has since fallen to number 1152 in 2025, as the spelling Brayden took over.