Hagan
Of Gaelic origin, meaning "little prince" or "descendent of the king".
Name Census estimates that about 1,530 living Americans carry the first name Hagan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Hagan today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hagan births was 2006 (79 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hagan. 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 Hagan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 224,022 Americans
Peak year
2006
79 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,819
Tracked since 1914
Census
Hagan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,431 people with the first name Hagan, which placed it at #9,628 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
#9,628
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,431 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hagan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hagan is White at 86.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Hagan 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 Hagan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.2% · 1,234
- Two or more races4.7% · 67
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 54
- Black or African American2.2% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Hagan
Hagan leans heavily male at 89.7% of total registrations, but 163 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Hagan as a male name
- Ranked #3,819 in 2024
- 29 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (73 births)
Hagan as a female name
- Ranked #14,031 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hagan leans strongly male. 1,227 people counted with this name were male (85.7%), compared with 204 female bearers (14.3%).
Popularity
Hagan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hagan from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 575 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
Hagan 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 Hagan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hagans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Hagan, while Oklahoma, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Hagan
The name Hagan originates from the Old Norse language and has its roots in the Germanic tribes of northern Europe. It is believed to have been derived from the Old Norse word "hagi," which means "enclosed field" or "meadow." The name likely emerged during the Viking Age, which spanned from the late 8th century to the late 11th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hagan can be found in the Nibelungenlied, a medieval German epic poem from around the 13th century. In this work, Hagan is portrayed as a powerful warrior and one of the main characters. This suggests that the name was in use among the Germanic peoples during this time period.
In the 11th century, a Norwegian king named Haakon the Good (920-961) is recorded to have had a son named Hagan. This provides evidence that the name was also present in Scandinavia during the Viking era.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hagan. One such figure was Hagan of Troyes (c. 1080-1142), a French philosopher and theologian who played a significant role in the intellectual life of the 12th century.
Another prominent Hagan was Hagen von Kuenheim (1468-1536), a German military leader and statesman who served as a field marshal under Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.
In the realm of literature, Hagan Christoph Gottfried von Grimmelshausen (1622-1676) was a German novelist and poet best known for his satirical novel "Der Abenteuerliche Simplicissimus" (The Adventurous Simplicissimus).
Moving to more recent times, Hagan Codding (1900-1981) was an American actor and stunt performer who appeared in numerous Western films during the 1930s and 1940s.
Finally, Hagan Shortridge (1909-1983) was a British actor and playwright who gained recognition for his work in both theater and television productions.
While the name Hagan may not be as common today as it once was, its rich history and connections to various cultures and historical figures make it a fascinating and enduring name with a distinguished legacy.
People
Hagan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hagan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hagan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hagan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,530 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hagan 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 224,022 US residents.
Is Hagan a common name?
We classify Hagan as "Rare". It ranks above 92.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,590 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hagan most popular?
The single biggest year for Hagan was 2006, when 79 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hagan 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 Hagan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,431 people with the name Hagan, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,628 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 Hagan 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 Hagan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hagan leans strongly male. 1,227 people counted with this name were male (85.7%), compared with 204 female bearers (14.3%). 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 Hagan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hagan is White at 86.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Hagan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hagan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.2% (1,234 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 Hagan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hagan a male name?
Yes, 89.7% of people registered as Hagan 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 Hagan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hagan 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 Hagan 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 are called Hagan?
You can see how many people share the name Hagan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.