What Does the Name Arden Mean?

Arden is a unisex name of English (Old English / Celtic) origin meaning “great forest; valley of the eagle.”

Updated June 2026

Name	Arden
Gender	unisex
Origin	English (Old English / Celtic)
Meaning	great forest; valley of the eagle
Variants	Ardin, Ardenne, Ardan
Popularity	An uncommon but steadily rising unisex name in the United States, used for both boys and girls and currently more frequent for girls.

The meaning and origin of Arden

The name Arden means “great forest; valley of the eagle” and has English (Old English / Celtic) origins. A place and surname name from the Forest of Arden in Warwickshire, England, whose name likely derives from a Celtic root meaning 'high' combined with Old English elements, often glossed as 'great forest' or 'valley of the eagle.' Its literary resonance comes from Shakespeare's Forest of Arden in As You Like It.

Variants and related names

Arden is related to several other names you may recognize: Ardin, Ardenne, Ardan. These share a common root or are spelling and language variants of the same name.

How popular is the name Arden?

An uncommon but steadily rising unisex name in the United States, used for both boys and girls and currently more frequent for girls.

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