Caelan
Meaning "slender, warrior" of Celtic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 3,044 living Americans carry the first name Caelan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Caelan today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caelan births was 2001 (174 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caelan. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Caelan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.0K
~ 1 in 112,600 Americans
Peak year
2001
174 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,330
Tracked since 1990
Census
Caelan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,564 people with the first name Caelan, which placed it at #6,289 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,289
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,564 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caelan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caelan is White at 71.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.6%) and Hispanic (7.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Caelan described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Caelan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.9% · 1,844
- Two or more races9.6% · 245
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 203
- Black or African American6.2% · 160
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 94
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Caelan
Caelan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 3,085 total registrations, 2,426 (78.6%) were male and 659 (21.4%) were female.
Caelan as a male name
- Ranked #3,330 in 2024
- 35 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (135 births)
Caelan as a female name
- Ranked #11,353 in 2023
- 8 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2003 (75 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Caelan on both sides of the split. Of the 2,562 people counted with this name, 1,936 were male (75.6%) and 626 were female (24.4%).
Popularity
Caelan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caelan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,346 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caelan by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Caelan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caelans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Caelan, while Massachusetts, Utah, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 44 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caelan
The name Caelan is of Irish origin and is derived from the Gaelic word "caol" meaning "slender" or "thin". It is believed to have originated in the 5th or 6th century AD when Gaelic culture flourished in Ireland.
The earliest recorded example of the name Caelan dates back to the 7th century AD. It was the name of an Irish saint and scholar, Caelan of Inishcaltra, who lived on the island of Inishcaltra in Lough Derg, County Galway. He is said to have established a monastic school on the island and was known for his wisdom and learning.
Another notable figure in history with the name Caelan was Caelan mac Aillila, a 7th-century Irish king of the Uí Cheinnselaig dynasty. He ruled over the territory of South Leinster and is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history.
In the 9th century, Caelan mac Ailella was an Irish abbot and scribe who lived at the monastery of Iona in Scotland. He is known for his calligraphy and is believed to have transcribed several important manuscripts during his lifetime.
During the Middle Ages, Caelan was the name of a 12th-century Irish bishop and poet. Caelan of Loughcrew served as the Bishop of Ardagh and is remembered for his religious writings and poetry.
In more recent times, Caelan O'Connor was an Irish writer and journalist born in 1920. He authored several books and worked as a newspaper editor, contributing to the literary and cultural life of Ireland in the 20th century.
While the name Caelan has its roots in ancient Irish history and culture, it has also gained popularity in modern times, particularly in Ireland and among Irish communities around the world. However, its usage remains relatively uncommon compared to more widely known Irish names.
People
Caelan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caelan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Caelan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caelan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,044 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caelan going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 112,600 US residents.
Is Caelan a common name?
We classify Caelan as "Rare". It ranks above 95.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,085 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caelan most popular?
The single biggest year for Caelan was 2001, when 174 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caelan is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caelan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,564 people with the name Caelan, or 0.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,289 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Caelan in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Caelan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Caelan on both sides of the split. Of the 2,562 people counted with this name, 1,936 were male (75.6%) and 626 were female (24.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Caelan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caelan is White at 71.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (9.6%) and Hispanic (7.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Caelan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caelan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.9% (1,844 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Caelan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caelan a male name?
Yes, 78.6% of people registered as Caelan in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Caelan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caelan in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Caelan can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Caelan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.