Maghan
Of unknown origin and meaning in the English language.
Name Census estimates that about 472 living Americans carry the first name Maghan. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Maghan today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Maghan births was 1985 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Maghan. 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
472
~ 1 in 726,174 Americans
Peak year
1985
39 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2005 SSA rank
#18,135
Tracked since 1975
Census
Maghan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 437 people with the first name Maghan, which placed it at #22,679 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
#22,679
National first-name rank
People counted
437
437 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Maghan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maghan is White at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.1%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Maghan 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 Maghan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.0% · 376
- Black or African American7.1% · 31
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 16
- Two or more races2.3% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 4
Popularity
Maghan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Maghan from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 244 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Maghan 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 Maghan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Maghans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Maghan
The name Maghan is believed to have originated from the Persian language, with roots tracing back to ancient Persia (modern-day Iran) during the pre-Islamic era. It is derived from the Persian word "magh," which means "priest" or "wise man," indicating a connection to religious or scholarly pursuits.
Historically, the name Maghan was associated with the Zoroastrian faith, one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world. It was commonly used among the priestly class of Zoroastrian clergy, known as the Magi or Magians. These priests were revered for their wisdom, knowledge, and spiritual guidance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Maghan can be found in the ancient Persian text, the Avesta, which is the primary collection of sacred texts in Zoroastrianism. The name appears in several passages, often referring to esteemed priests or wise men.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Maghan. One of the most famous was Maghan of Nishapur, a renowned Persian scholar and poet who lived in the 10th century CE. He was highly regarded for his contributions to literature and philosophy during the Golden Age of Persian civilization.
Another prominent figure was Maghan al-Bukhari, a 9th-century Islamic scholar and hadith collector from Bukhara (modern-day Uzbekistan). He is renowned for his influential work, "Sahih al-Bukhari," considered one of the most authentic collections of the Prophet Muhammad's sayings and traditions.
In the realm of religion, Maghan Farahvashi was a prominent Zoroastrian priest and theologian who lived in the 6th century CE. He is credited with reviving and preserving the Zoroastrian faith during a period of decline and persecution.
During the medieval period, Maghan ibn Abi al-Qasim al-Razi was a celebrated Persian physician and philosopher who lived in the 9th and 10th centuries CE. He made significant contributions to the fields of medicine, alchemy, and philosophy, and his works were widely studied throughout the Islamic world.
Maghan Ghiyath al-Din Mansur, born in the 12th century CE, was a renowned Persian mathematician and astronomer. He is best known for his work on the development of trigonometric tables and his contributions to the advancement of astronomical instruments and observations.
While these are just a few examples, the name Maghan has carried a rich historical legacy, often associated with wisdom, scholarship, and religious devotion across various cultures and time periods.
People
Maghan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Maghan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Maghan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Maghan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 472 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Maghan 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 726,174 US residents.
Is Maghan a common name?
We classify Maghan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 496 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Maghan most popular?
The single biggest year for Maghan was 1985, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Maghan is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Maghan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 437 people with the name Maghan, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #22,679 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 Maghan 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 Maghan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Maghan appears almost entirely female. Of the 441 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Maghan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Maghan is White at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Black (7.1%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Maghan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Maghan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.0% (376 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 Maghan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Maghan a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Maghan 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 Maghan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Maghan 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 Maghan 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 Maghan as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.