Well, I associate it with
Elizabeth Arden make up and perfume, and for some reason it also reminds me of the name
Avalon and the word arbor soundwise, so I always think of lush green forests and tall trees and images like that. But that's definitely just a personal association.
My one true real life experience with the name
Arden is my only negative association with the name. I took my sister to a book sale at her grade school one night and a mother was yelling for her child (a girl). It took me a few minutes to figure out what she was saying. She was saying it really quickly and intensely, and I could have sworn to God she was saying "Hard on". I always liked the name until I heard that. Now I still want to like it, but after that I just don't see it the same way.
An alternative to
Arden for a boy I like is Anden, which I know isn't in the database but I ran across it when researching names that meant "imagination", but then you may get the nickname
Andy. And I have no idea if that's the correct meaning.