Whalen
Derivative of the Irish surname Ó Fáilbhe meaning "descendent of Failbhe".
Name Census estimates that about 186 living Americans carry the first name Whalen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Whalen today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Whalen births was 2021 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Whalen. 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
186
~ 1 in 1,842,765 Americans
Peak year
2021
14 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,252
Tracked since 1948
Census
Whalen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 255 people with the first name Whalen, which placed it at #32,783 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
#32,783
National first-name rank
People counted
255
255 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Whalen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Whalen is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Black (16.5%) and Two or More Races (6.7%). 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 Whalen 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 Whalen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.7% · 170
- Black or African American16.5% · 42
- Two or more races6.7% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.3% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 5
Popularity
Whalen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Whalen from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 72 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Whalen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Whalen 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 Whalen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Whalen
The name Whalen is of Irish origin and derives from the Gaelic name "Ó Faoláin," which means "descendant of Faoláin." Faoláin itself is a compound name formed from the Old Irish elements "faol," meaning "wolf," and the diminutive suffix "-án." Therefore, the name Whalen essentially translates to "little wolf."
This name first emerged in the medieval period, with some of the earliest recorded instances dating back to the 12th century. It was particularly prevalent in the Irish provinces of Leinster and Munster, where various septs (branches) of the Ó Faoláin family held lands and positions of power.
One of the earliest known historical figures bearing this name was Cornelius Ó Faoláin, an Irish cleric and poet who lived in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. He is credited with composing several religious poems and hymns that were widely circulated during his lifetime.
In the 16th century, Domhnall Ó Faoláin was a notable member of the Ó Faoláin clan. He served as the hereditary Chief Brehon (judge) of Desmond, a prominent territory in the southwestern region of Ireland.
Another prominent figure was Ó Faoláin Dóighre, a 17th-century Irish harpist and composer who was renowned for his mastery of the traditional Irish harp. His compositions were widely performed and appreciated during the era of the Gaelic Renaissance.
Jumping ahead to the 20th century, the name gained wider recognition through the Irish writer and novelist Seán Ó Faoláin (1900-1991). He was a leading figure in the Irish literary scene and is best known for his short story collections and novels that explored the complexities of Irish society and culture.
Finally, the name has been carried on by contemporary figures such as the American actress and writer Megan Whalen Turner (born 1965), known for her acclaimed fantasy novels, including the Queen's Thief series.
While the original Gaelic spelling and pronunciation have been anglicized over time, the name Whalen continues to hold a strong connection to its Irish roots and the cultural heritage of the Ó Faoláin clan.
People
Whalen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Whalen as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Whalen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Whalen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 186 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Whalen 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 1,842,765 US residents.
Is Whalen a common name?
We classify Whalen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 195 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Whalen most popular?
The single biggest year for Whalen was 2021, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Whalen is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Whalen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 255 people with the name Whalen, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,783 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 Whalen 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 Whalen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Whalen leans strongly male. 241 people counted with this name were male (96.0%), compared with 10 female bearers (4.0%). 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 Whalen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Whalen is White at 66.7%. The next largest groups are Black (16.5%) and Two or More Races (6.7%). 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 Whalen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Whalen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.7% (170 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 Whalen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Whalen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Whalen 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 Whalen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Whalen 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 Whalen 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 Americans are named Whalen?
See how many Americans are named Whalen on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.