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I like Holden. I use to think it was ok, but it's my friend Tony's mn (Tony Holden, not Anthony) and he made the name better for me. :)

I don't like Holden at all.

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Shane & Elizabeth
11/20/04

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We are future parents to:

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Benjamin Luke, Alexander

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Sara Anneliese, Rachel Sophia

I quite like Holden, but since I watch the soap opera "As the World Turns" the name is ruined by that sniveling, boring character who has the name. However, I don't think Hayden was ever that popular - it quickly got replaced by that wretched Brayden / Braden / Braeden in popularity, which I think is too bad & furthermore, I think that Hayden is becoming similar to Madison in the sense that its going to become a more popular girls name (although probably not #1 or anything) ... heck, even I like it for a girl.

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Jaclyn, wife to Kyle (06/25/04).

I really like Holden, although I'm not a huge fan of most surname names either :-)

I don't think it will take off, but it's popularity will rise. I like Holden. I liked The Catcher in the Rye. Your right, Holden feels older than Carson, probably because it looks more masculine (imo) and is a literary name.

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~ Arcadia

Holden has been one of my favorites for a long time. I probably wouldn't use it for my own child since his last name would be a noun and his name would sound like "holdin' x."

This was a favorite of mine for several years. I'm 28 now but I've loved it since I was about 12 years old. I've only met 2-3 people with this name, and they were babies or toddlers and I love names that are recognizable (i.e. not made up) but are still uncommon. However, it seems like it's gotten a tiny bit trendy lately. Maybe not. But still for some reason I don't love it like I used to.

I'm a bit prejudiced against the name Holden; even as someone who usually loves "classic" literature, I found Catcher in the Rye and its main character to be extremely tiresome, so Holden holds only bad associations for me. That aside, Holden is too surnamey for my taste, and seems very pretentious.

This message was edited 2/9/2005, 7:57 PM

I agree, it does sound like "holdin'", but that doesn't bother me nearly so much as the fact that my name is Caulfield, and to name my son Holden would be terrible!

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~ Caitlín

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"Blue tinted individuals who go about armed to the teeth and quoting twelfth-century poetry are not easy to comprehend." ~ Lloyd Alexander

I don't care for it. It's not too surname-y, but it sounds like slang for "hold on."

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"I'm holden' on, don't worry!"

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I don't think Hayden was that successful...more of a "one night stand" in nameland. It surfaced for a while, then went away, popping up every once and a while. It'll resurface again when the third installment of Star Wars comes out, with actor Hayden Christensen. Hayden is an OK name. Better than Holden, I think.

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Edit 1: Spelling, formatting, and reworked a sentence.
Edit 2: Formatting, again.

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-Lissa Hannah-
As soon as tradition has come to be recognized as tradition, it is dead. - Allan Bloom

This message was edited 2/9/2005, 7:21 PM

I love Holden and the Catcher in the Rye (the main characters first name is Holden) but I am afraid that it will get popular just like Hayden.

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~Kai

I like and dislike the name Holden. It's obvious literary associations are quite appealing to me, while its actual sound is not. I don't like the way it sounds, to my ears, like "holdin'."

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I predict that in the next few years it is going to witness a surge of popularity much like the one that Hayden has seen, but that shouldn't stop you from using it if you truly love the name.

I like it.