Declan
Declan is an Irish name meaning "man of vows" or "full of goodness".
Name Census estimates that about 55,872 living Americans carry the first name Declan. It sits at #131 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Declan today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Declan births was 2019 (4,007 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Declan. 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 Declan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Declan is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 386 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Declan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
56K
~ 1 in 6,135 Americans
Peak year
2019
4,007 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#131
Tracked since 1951
Census
Declan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 39,024 people with the first name Declan, which placed it at #1,065 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
#1,065
National first-name rank
People counted
39K
39,024 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Declan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Declan is White at 85.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.5%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Declan 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 Declan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.0% · 33,174
- Two or more races6.5% · 2,539
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 2,347
- Black or African American1.1% · 436
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 408
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 120
Gender
Gender distribution for Declan
Out of the 56,351 babies given the name Declan since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Declan as a male name
- Ranked #131 in 2024
- 2,758 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (3,971 births)
Declan as a female name
- Ranked #7,662 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (40 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Declan appears almost entirely male. Of the 39,020 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Declan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Declan from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 31,333 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Declan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Declan 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 Declan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Declans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Declan, while Hawaii, New Mexico, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,077 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Declan
The name Declan has its origins in the Irish Gaelic language and culture. It is derived from the Old Irish name Declán, which itself comes from the Latin name Decius or Decimus, meaning "tenth" or "tenth-born". The name was particularly popular in ancient Ireland, where it was sometimes given to a tenth child.
In Irish legend, one of the earliest and most famous bearers of the name was Saint Declan, who lived in the 5th century AD. He was a pioneer in spreading Christianity in Ireland and is the patron saint of the Diocese of Ardmore. Saint Declan's life and deeds are recorded in the ancient Irish manuscript known as the "Book of Lismore".
Another notable early figure with the name Declan was the Irish king Declan mac Crimthainn, who ruled over the kingdom of Mide in the 7th century AD. He is mentioned in several Irish annals and historical records from the time.
In the 9th century, Declan of Inishcaltra was an Irish monk and scribe who is credited with writing the "Annals of Inishcaltra", an important historical chronicle of events in Ireland during his lifetime.
Moving into more modern times, Declan Buckingham (1592-1636) was an English Jesuit priest who was executed for his Catholic faith during the reign of King Charles I.
In the 19th century, Declan McManus (1849-1899) was an Irish-American sculptor and artist who is best known for his statues and monuments found in various cities across the United States.
The name Declan has continued to be used throughout history, with other notable bearers including Declan Costello (1905-1964), an Irish politician and lawyer who served as Attorney General of Ireland, and Declan Mulholland (1957-1976), a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who was killed during a skirmish with the British Army.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Declan
People
Declan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Declan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Declan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Declan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 55,872 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Declan 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 6,135 US residents.
Is Declan a common name?
We classify Declan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 56,351 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Declan most popular?
The single biggest year for Declan was 2019, when 4,007 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Declan is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Declan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 39,024 people with the name Declan, or 12.92 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,065 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 Declan 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 Declan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Declan appears almost entirely male. Of the 39,020 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Declan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Declan is White at 85.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.5%) and Hispanic (6.0%). 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 Declan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Declan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.0% (33,174 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 Declan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Declan a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Declan 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 Declan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Declan 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 Declan 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 share the name Declan?
Find out how many Americans are named Declan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.