What RickJay said.
Also, his shortened or nick name is Hay. It doesn’t sound right.
Hey Hay, 'sup.
He either will have to “take it” or keep saying, my name is Hayden.
I don’t like it.
It sounds like a last name, which is extremely trendy right now, and nobody is going to know it’s a family name but you- everyone else is going to assume you jumped on the “hey, let’s name our kid “Eisenhower” because it’s classy to have a last name as a first name!” bandwagon.
I also don’t like how the name has a built in salutation- and not a very polite one at that. I can’t stop thinking “it’s like Aiden, but with a Hey!”
When I hear the name Hayden I think of the TV show “Coach”. The coach of the football team that the show revolved around was named Hayden Fox. I don’t see anything wrong with the name at all.
I like it.
I know a twenty-something year old Hayden and I’ve never heard anyone try to shorten his name to “Hay,” or anything else. I guess everyone realizes it sounds stupid and people just don’t do it.
As an alum of the University of Iowa, I like it!
I don’t think it’s a crazy name but it reminds me of the gender-neutral last-name-as-first-name celebrity/trendy naming craze that’s going on right now.
You could make it a middle name. I know my highschool bf had a grandfather with an English first name that would be a last name in the US and he always planned to give it to the kid as a middle name.
But I’ve always believed that that if you really like the name, for whatever reason, you should go ahead with it. I’ve always liked the name Rohan for a boy (I’m of the same ethnicity as the name would suggest) and I’m not going to not name my kid that because someone made a bunch of movies and now it’s vaguely linked to a horse-riding kingdom in Middle Earth.
Thanks everyone for your input! This is why I love this place! 
I think we’re going to go for it. My grandfather was such a cool man… And I know my mom would be so excited if we named our son Hayden. (She was extremely close to her dad) It would be a wonderful gift to my mom.
Oh and BTW, Hayden Christensen’s performance in Star Wars was quite painful, but he wasn’t too bad in Life As A House - So with any luck (and a good agent) the poor guy will lose the Anakin Skywalker stigma!
Give him a good middle name in case
- Stuart James T:p
Seriously? I’m stumped. Please let me know what some other possible pronunciations of Hayden might be.
‘Hay’ is an English word. ‘Den’ is an English word. Do you guys have a variety of ways to pronounce them? Does the Y being followed by a D somehow make a difference?
What are some other ambiguously-pronounced names? Gomez? Miller? Walton?
“Do you have a table for Craig T. Nelson?”
On-topic: I don’t like it. If you’re gonna give the kid a name like that, make it the middle name. That’s what middle names are for.
Hayden Incase OneSyllableLastName.
Works for me! 
It’s a nice name, I’ve always liked the name.
But I think he’ll end up being “boy-Hayden” in a classroom with “Hayden R.” and “Hayden M.” (both girls).
Quite simply, when I first came across it (as a surname, a couple of years ago), I thought ‘Haydn’. Phonetics aren’t the defining rule.
At least one of those is certainly open to multiple pronunciations.
I was actually thinking of Thomas Haden-Church who’s been around TV & movies for about a decade or so now. It’s a handsome name and if it means something to you than by all means use it. But if there comes a day he wants to go by his middle name to ‘fit in’, don’t be hurt, it’ll pass.
And more people will think of Haydn than you might surmise, but that’s hardly earth-shaking!
When I first read it, I thought of Hades.
I like Aidan better.
I like it. And as someone who has a not-common but not-so-unusual-nobody’s-ever-heard-of-it name (Claudia), I’ve gotta say that having your name mispronounced every once in a while isn’t the worst thing in the world. I mean, I constantly have to repeat myself and spell my name. It’s vaguely annoying, but I can think of worse traumas. Plus, I think anyone who isn’t name Jack probably has to deal with this every now and then.
I also like the fact that it’s a family name. Our son is named William after my great-grandfather and my husband’s grandfather. After he was born, we found out that that was the #1 most popular name for boys in the state where he was born. Oh well. If we ever have another boy, I think I’m going to go with Levin - another family name.
Hayden sounds like Aiden and Jayden, both which are trendy right now. Trendy doesn’t mean that it’s bad, but it does mean he may grow up thinking his name is not as special as you think it is.
Congratulations!
I like it, although for some reason, my mind keeps associating it with Holden, i.e. Caulfield. The district never should have made us read that book.
I had a neat friend thirty years ago named Hayden. I liked it then and I like it now!
My friend was named after his Uncle Butch, unfortunately, his Uncle was named after his uncle (that is my friend’s uncle’s uncle), who was named Elmo, hence the nickname Butch. Thus, he is named Emo. :eek: