Mac Cadáin is an Irish Gaelic surname, rooted in the patronymic tradition of naming. It is the original Gaelic form that gave rise to the Anglicized surname Caden. The name Mac Cadáin literally means "son of Cadán," where Cadán is a personal name of uncertain meaning, possibly derived from a diminutive of an old Irish name.
This surname belongs to the class of names formed with the prefix "Mac," common in Ireland and Scotland, denoting descent from a notable ancestor. The system of patronymic surnames became fixed in the Middle Ages, and Mac Cadáin would have been used to identify members of a particular familial line.
While the exact meaning of Cadán is lost to history, the surname is part of a broader tradition of Irish surnames beginning with Mac Oisín, Mac Cárthaigh, etc. The popularity of the surname Caden in modern times, especially in the United States from the 1990s onward, owes more to sound and fashion—paralleling names like Hayden, Aidan, and Braden—than to direct descent from Irish families bearing the original form Mac Cadáin.
- Meaning: Son of Cadán
- Origin: Irish Gaelic
- Type: Patronymic surname
- Usage regions: Ireland
Sources: Forebears — mac-cadáin