Morgan
A unisex name of Celtic origin meaning "sea-born" or "great circle".
Name Census estimates that about 255,221 living Americans carry the first name Morgan. It sits at #276 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Morgan today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Morgan births was 1995 (12,135 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Morgan. 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 Morgan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Morgan started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
People living today
255K
~ 1 in 1,343 Americans
Peak year
1995
12,135 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#276
Tracked since 1880
Census
Morgan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235,729 people with the first name Morgan, which placed it at #242 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
#242
National first-name rank
People counted
236K
235,729 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
78.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Morgan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Morgan is White at 81.1%. The next largest groups are Black (8.7%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Morgan 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 Morgan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.1% · 191,136
- Black or African American8.7% · 20,594
- Two or more races4.5% · 10,560
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 9,551
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 2,362
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1,526
Gender
Gender distribution for Morgan
Morgan leans heavily female at 83.2% of total registrations, but 45,110 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Morgan as a male name
- Ranked #530 in 2024
- 560 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (1,258 births)
Morgan as a female name
- Ranked #276 in 2024
- 1,141 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (10,877 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Morgan leans strongly female. 201,351 people counted with this name were female (85.4%), compared with 34,373 male bearers (14.6%).
Popularity
Morgan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Morgan from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 101,296 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Morgan 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 Morgan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Morgans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Morgan, while Hawaii, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,109 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Morgan
The name Morgan has its origins in the Welsh language and culture. It is derived from the Old Welsh word "morcant" or "morían," which means "sea-born" or "circling sea." The name was initially used to describe someone who lived near the sea or made a living from the sea.
In ancient Welsh mythology, Morgan was the name of a famous enchantress and a powerful figure associated with the realm of the fairies. She was often depicted as a healer and a protector of women, and her name carried connotations of wisdom, magic, and mystery.
The name Morgan first appeared in historical records in the 12th century, during the time of the Norman conquest of England. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Morgan ap Caradog, a Welsh prince and military leader who lived in the late 12th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Morgan. One of the most famous was Morgan le Fay, a powerful enchantress and the half-sister of King Arthur in Arthurian legend. She was a complex figure, sometimes portrayed as a villain and other times as a benevolent healer and protector.
Another famous Morgan was Morgan Mwynfawr, a 6th-century Welsh prince and warrior who was renowned for his bravery and leadership in battles against the invading Saxons. His name, which means "Morgan the Gentle," suggests that he was respected for his chivalry and valor on the battlefield.
In the 16th century, Morgan Llwyd (1619-1659) was a Welsh poet and minister known for his religious and patriotic poetry. His works celebrated Welsh culture and language and played a significant role in preserving the nation's literary heritage.
During the American Revolutionary War, Morgan Morgan (1688-1766) was a prominent Welsh-American pioneer and military leader. He served as a colonel in the Continental Army and played a crucial role in several battles, including the Battle of Cowpens.
Another notable figure was Morgan Traherne (1636-1686), a Welsh poet and priest who wrote influential works on mysticism and spiritual enlightenment. His poems and writings explored themes of divine love, unity with nature, and the interconnectedness of all things.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Morgan
People
Morgan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Morgan 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
Morgan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Morgan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 255,221 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Morgan 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 1,343 US residents.
Is Morgan a common name?
We classify Morgan as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 267,755 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Morgan most popular?
The single biggest year for Morgan was 1995, when 12,135 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Morgan is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Morgan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235,729 people with the name Morgan, or 78.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #242 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 Morgan 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 Morgan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Morgan leans strongly female. 201,351 people counted with this name were female (85.4%), compared with 34,373 male bearers (14.6%). 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 Morgan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Morgan is White at 81.1%. The next largest groups are Black (8.7%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Morgan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Morgan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.1% (191,136 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 Morgan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Morgan a female name?
Yes, 83.2% of people registered as Morgan 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 Morgan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Morgan 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 Morgan 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 Morgan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.