Cailan
Of Celtic origin, meaning "young warrior" or "puny warrior."
Name Census estimates that about 242 living Americans carry the first name Cailan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 71.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Cailan today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cailan births was 2007 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cailan. 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 Cailan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
242
~ 1 in 1,416,340 Americans
Peak year
2007
17 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,399
Tracked since 1998
Census
Cailan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 359 people with the first name Cailan, which placed it at #26,116 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
#26,116
National first-name rank
People counted
359
359 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cailan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cailan is White at 49.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (16.7%). 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 Cailan 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 Cailan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.6% · 178
- Black or African American18.1% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander16.7% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino8.9% · 32
- Two or more races6.7% · 24
Gender
Gender distribution for Cailan
Cailan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 245 total registrations, 174 (71.0%) were male and 71 (29.0%) were female.
Cailan as a male name
- Ranked #8,399 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (15 births)
Cailan as a female name
- Ranked #15,306 in 2010
- 6 female births in 2010
- Peak: 2003 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cailan on both sides of the split. Of the 361 people counted with this name, 170 were male (47.1%) and 191 were female (52.9%).
Popularity
Cailan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cailan 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 115 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
Cailan 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 Cailan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cailan
The name Cailan has its origins in the Gaelic language, which was spoken in Scotland and Ireland. It is believed to have emerged during the medieval period, around the 9th or 10th century AD. Cailan is derived from the Old Irish word "cailén," meaning "young boy" or "lad."
In ancient Celtic mythology, Cailan was the name of a legendary Irish warrior who fought alongside the mythical hero Fionn mac Cumhaill. Cailan's name appears in several Irish folktales and bardic poems, indicating its widespread use among the ancient Celtic tribes.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Cailan can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. The Annals mention a King Cailan of Leinster, who ruled in the 7th century AD. Another notable figure was Cailan mac Inscathaig, an Irish poet and scholar who lived in the 9th century.
During the Middle Ages, the name Cailan was particularly popular among Scottish and Irish nobility. One of the most famous bearers of this name was Cailan mac Aidh, a 12th-century Scottish king who reigned from 1153 to 1165. His reign was marked by conflicts with England and internal struggles for power.
Another historical figure named Cailan was Cailan O'Cearbhallain, an Irish chieftain and leader of the Uí Cearbhalláin clan in the 13th century. He played a significant role in the Irish resistance against the Norman invasion of Ireland.
In the 16th century, Cailan O'Mulconry was a renowned Irish historian and genealogist. He compiled the historical work known as the "Book of Lecan," which documented the genealogies and histories of various Irish clans.
Throughout history, the name Cailan has been less common compared to its related variants, such as Cailean or Colin. However, it has maintained a presence, particularly in Scottish and Irish communities, as a testament to its Celtic heritage and cultural significance.
People
Cailan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cailan 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
Cailan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cailan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 242 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cailan 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 1,416,340 US residents.
Is Cailan a common name?
We classify Cailan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 245 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cailan most popular?
The single biggest year for Cailan was 2007, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cailan is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cailan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 359 people with the name Cailan, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,116 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 Cailan 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 Cailan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cailan on both sides of the split. Of the 361 people counted with this name, 170 were male (47.1%) and 191 were female (52.9%). 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 Cailan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cailan is White at 49.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (16.7%). 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 Cailan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cailan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.6% (178 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 Cailan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cailan a male name?
Yes, 71.0% of people registered as Cailan 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 Cailan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cailan 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 Cailan 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 many people have the name Cailan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.