Carden
A surname usually linked to places in England or Scotland, though some early forms may also connect to the older name Card/Caird.
The #4,143 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 36,119 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The historical evidence points mainly to a locational surname: Lower notes Carden as connected with a township in Cheshire, and later writers also associate it with Carden in Stirlingshire. Some early spellings are treated as related to or influenced by Card, which Lower says is the same as Caird, suggesting an additional nickname or occupational layer in some cases. The name may therefore have more than one origin path, but the strongest evidence is for place-name origin.
History
The surname appears in medieval records in forms such as Cardon and Cardun, and later developed into the steadier spelling Carden. In Scotland, Carden is also tied to landed families, especially the Forresters of Carden in Stirlingshire. In England, the name was established early enough to be noted by 19th-century surname scholars as an old local name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower records a Cheshire township called Carden, showing that the surname has a genuine place-name backdrop, not just a nickname origin.
From the historical record
“CARD. The same as Caird, which see. CARDEN. CARDON. ^Villiam Cardon or Cardun appears in the Domesd. of Essex, as one of the homines of Geoffrey de Mag- naville. A township in Cheshire bears the name of Garden. CARDER. One who dresses wool, so called from the card or comb which he uses. CARDINALL. See…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom