Connelly
Anglicized form of the Irish name Conghalaigh, meaning "ardent" or "descendant of a lover."
Name Census estimates that about 344 living Americans carry the first name Connelly. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 66.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Connelly today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Connelly births was 2020 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Connelly. 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.
People living today
344
~ 1 in 996,379 Americans
Peak year
2020
34 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2020 SSA rank
#6,705
Tracked since 1991
Census
Connelly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 362 people with the first name Connelly, which placed it at #25,958 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
#25,958
National first-name rank
People counted
362
362 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Connelly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Connelly is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Black (4.1%). 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 Connelly 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 Connelly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.1% · 308
- Two or more races4.7% · 17
- Black or African American4.1% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Connelly
Connelly is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 347 total registrations, 117 (33.7%) were male and 230 (66.3%) were female.
Connelly as a male name
- Ranked #6,705 in 2020
- 12 male births in 2020
- Peak: 2020 (12 births)
Connelly as a female name
- Ranked #9,036 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Connelly on both sides of the split. Of the 370 people counted with this name, 170 were male (45.9%) and 200 were female (54.1%).
Popularity
Connelly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Connelly from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 149 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Connelly remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Connelly 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 Connelly 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 Connelly
The name Connelly is an anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Conghalaigh, which is derived from the Old Irish personal name Congalach. This name is believed to have originated in the 5th or 6th century CE and is composed of the elements "con" meaning high or noble, and "gal" meaning valor or bravery.
The earliest recorded use of the name Conghalaigh can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Conghalaigh Ua Conchobair, an Irish prince who lived in the 11th century and was a member of the influential O'Conor dynasty.
In the 12th century, the name Conghalaigh appeared in the Lebor Gabála Érenn, a medieval Irish literary work that traces the origins and genealogies of the Irish people. This text mentions a figure named Conghalaigh mac Eidhin, who was said to be a descendant of the legendary Irish king Niall of the Nine Hostages.
Throughout the Middle Ages, various spellings of the name were used, including Congalach, Conchobhar, and Conchúr. One notable bearer of the name during this time was Conchobhar Mac Conghalaigh, a 14th-century Irish priest and historian who wrote a chronicle of the O'Conor dynasty.
As the name spread beyond Ireland, it was anglicized to Connelly, and this spelling became more common in the 16th and 17th centuries. One of the earliest recorded examples of the Connelly spelling was Connelly O'Mulconry, an Irish Franciscan friar who lived in the late 16th century.
Other notable historical figures with the first name Connelly include:
1. Connelly Whittington (1769-1839), an English artist and engraver known for his landscape paintings.
2. Connelly Cavanagh (1810-1886), an Irish-Australian politician and businessman who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.
3. Connelly Milburn (1858-1921), an American lawyer and politician who served as the 25th Lieutenant Governor of Illinois.
4. Connelly Gamble (1884-1959), an American baseball player who played for the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics in the early 20th century.
5. Connelly Coolidge (1888-1975), an American diplomat and author who served as the United States Ambassador to several countries, including Cuba and Nicaragua.
People
Connelly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Connelly 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
Connelly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Connelly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 344 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Connelly 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 996,379 US residents.
Is Connelly a common name?
We classify Connelly as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 347 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Connelly most popular?
The single biggest year for Connelly was 2020, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Connelly is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Connelly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 362 people with the name Connelly, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,958 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 Connelly 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 Connelly?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Connelly on both sides of the split. Of the 370 people counted with this name, 170 were male (45.9%) and 200 were female (54.1%). 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 Connelly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Connelly is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Black (4.1%). 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 Connelly most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Connelly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.1% (308 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 Connelly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Connelly a female name?
Yes, 66.3% of people registered as Connelly in the SSA data are female. 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 Connelly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Connelly 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 Connelly 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 Connelly as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.