Callaghan
An Irish Gaelic name meaning "bright-headed" or "bright prince".
Name Census estimates that about 386 living Americans carry the first name Callaghan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Callaghan today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Callaghan births was 2022 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Callaghan. 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
386
~ 1 in 887,965 Americans
Peak year
2022
51 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,460
Tracked since 1994
Gender
Gender distribution for Callaghan
Callaghan leans heavily male at 85.4% of total registrations, but 57 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Callaghan as a male name
- Ranked #3,460 in 2024
- 33 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (39 births)
Callaghan as a female name
- Ranked #11,267 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (15 births)
Popularity
Callaghan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Callaghan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 183 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Callaghan 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 Callaghan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Callaghans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Callaghan
The name Callaghan has its origins in the Gaelic language and culture of Ireland. It is derived from the Irish surname "Ó Gallchobhair," which means "descendant of the foreign helper or auxiliary." The name can be traced back to the 12th century in County Donegal, Ireland.
Callaghan is believed to have been derived from the Old Irish words "gall" (meaning "foreigner" or "stranger") and "cobhair" (meaning "help" or "assistance"). This suggests that the name may have been given to someone who provided aid or assistance to foreigners or strangers.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Callaghan is found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. In the year 1233, a man named Domnall Ó Gallchobhair is mentioned as the Bishop of Raphoe in County Donegal.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the first name Callaghan. One of the most famous was Sir Arthur Callaghan (1907-1991), a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979. Another prominent figure was Callaghan McCarty (1930-2003), an American biochemist who made significant contributions to the understanding of DNA and RNA.
In the realm of literature, Callaghan O'Hara was a fictional character in the novel "The Green Hills of Earth" by Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1951. The character was a spaceship engineer and one of the first settlers on the planet Ganymede.
Other notable individuals with the first name Callaghan include Callaghan McCarthy (1925-2021), an Irish actor and playwright, and Callaghan MacDonald (born 1960), a Canadian actress known for her roles in television series like "The X-Files" and "Battlestar Galactica."
While the name Callaghan has its roots in Ireland, it has been adopted and used in various cultures around the world, particularly in English-speaking countries with strong Irish heritage and connections.
People
Callaghan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Callaghan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Callaghan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Callaghan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 386 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Callaghan 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 887,965 US residents.
Is Callaghan a common name?
We classify Callaghan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 390 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Callaghan most popular?
The single biggest year for Callaghan was 2022, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Callaghan is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Callaghan a male name?
Yes, 85.4% of people registered as Callaghan 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.
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.