Meghan
Of Welsh origin meaning "pearl" or "child of light".
Name Census estimates that about 92,210 living Americans carry the first name Meghan. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Meghan today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meghan births was 1985 (4,683 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meghan. 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 Meghan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Meghan is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 227 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Meghan have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
92K
~ 1 in 3,717 Americans
Peak year
1985
4,683 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2004 SSA rank
#1,446
Tracked since 1952
Census
Meghan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 89,558 people with the first name Meghan, which placed it at #593 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
#593
National first-name rank
People counted
90K
89,558 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
29.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meghan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meghan is White at 90.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.8%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Meghan 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 Meghan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.0% · 80,611
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 3,421
- Two or more races2.8% · 2,495
- Black or African American1.8% · 1,627
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 1,177
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 227
Gender
Gender distribution for Meghan
Out of the 96,625 babies given the name Meghan since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Meghan as a male name
- Ranked #8,653 in 2004
- 8 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1984 (22 births)
Meghan as a female name
- Ranked #1,446 in 2024
- 152 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1985 (4,670 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meghan appears almost entirely female. Of the 89,553 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Meghan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meghan from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 36,355 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
Meghan 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 Meghan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meghans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Meghan, while Wyoming, Hawaii, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,856 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Meghan
The name Meghan is derived from the Hebrew name Megan, which means "pearl" or "precious stone." It is a variant of the name Margaret, which also has Hebrew origins and means "pearl." The name Meghan likely emerged as a diminutive or pet form of Margaret in the Middle Ages.
The earliest recorded use of the name Meghan dates back to the late 16th century in England. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Meghan Burtenhsaw, a seamstress who lived in London in the late 1500s.
In the 17th century, the name Meghan appeared in several religious texts and historical records. One notable example is Meghan Llewelyn, a Welsh poet and Baptist minister who lived from 1617 to 1689. Her collection of religious poems, titled "Hymns of Grace," was widely read in her time.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the name Meghan gained popularity among the upper classes in England and Ireland. One famous bearer of the name was Meghan Fitzwilliam, a British aristocrat and philanthropist who lived from 1760 to 1835. She was known for her charitable work and her support of various educational initiatives.
In the 20th century, the name Meghan became more widely used in various English-speaking countries. One notable individual with this name was Meghan Aguglia, an American actress and dancer who appeared in several Broadway productions in the 1940s and 1950s. Another was Meghan O'Rourke, an American writer and literary critic who was born in 1976 and is known for her memoir "The Long Goodbye," which explored her experience of grieving the loss of her mother.
Other notable individuals named Meghan throughout history include Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and wife of Prince Harry (born 1981); Meghan Trainor, an American singer-songwriter known for hits like "All About That Bass" (born 1993); and Meghan McCain, an American television host and author who is the daughter of former US Senator John McCain (born 1984).
People
Meghan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meghan 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
Meghan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meghan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 92,210 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meghan 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 3,717 US residents.
Is Meghan a common name?
We classify Meghan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 96,625 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meghan most popular?
The single biggest year for Meghan was 1985, when 4,683 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meghan is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meghan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 89,558 people with the name Meghan, or 29.65 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #593 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 Meghan 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 Meghan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meghan appears almost entirely female. Of the 89,553 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Meghan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meghan is White at 90.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.8%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). 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 Meghan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Meghan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.0% (80,611 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 Meghan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meghan a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Meghan 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 Meghan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meghan 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 Meghan 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 Meghan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.