Callan
Of Irish/Gaelic origin, meaning "bright-headed" or "curly-headed".
Name Census estimates that about 10,539 living Americans carry the first name Callan. It sits at #242 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Callan today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Callan births was 2024 (1,505 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Callan. 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 Callan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Callan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 32,522 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,505 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#242
Tracked since 1957
Census
Callan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,476 people with the first name Callan, which placed it at #3,705 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
#3,705
National first-name rank
People counted
5.5K
5,476 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Callan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Callan is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.3%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Callan 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 Callan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.0% · 4,766
- Two or more races5.3% · 291
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 262
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 96
- Black or African American0.8% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 17
Gender
Gender distribution for Callan
Callan leans heavily male at 86.8% of total registrations, but 1,404 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Callan as a male name
- Ranked #242 in 2024
- 1,452 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,452 births)
Callan as a female name
- Ranked #3,047 in 2024
- 53 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (60 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Callan on both sides of the split. Of the 5,479 people counted with this name, 4,333 were male (79.1%) and 1,146 were female (20.9%).
Popularity
Callan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Callan from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 5,157 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
Callan 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 Callan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Callans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Callan, while Hawaii, Delaware, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 170 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Callan
The given name Callan has its origins in the Gaelic language, tracing back to ancient Celtic cultures in Ireland and Scotland. It is believed to be derived from the old Irish word "callan," which means "young boy" or "lad." The name was likely used as a descriptive term for a young male child before evolving into a proper given name.
Callan has been in use as a personal name for centuries, with early records dating back to the Middle Ages in Ireland. The name appears in several ancient Irish manuscripts and historical records, suggesting its widespread use among Celtic populations during that time period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Callan was an Irish poet and historian who lived in the 12th century. Known as Callan Bán Ó Maoilchonaire, he was a prominent figure in the literary and scholarly circles of his time and is credited with several works on Irish history and genealogy.
In the 16th century, Callan was the name of a notable Irish chieftain from County Armagh, Callan Ó Néill. He played a significant role in the Nine Years' War against the English, leading his clan's resistance efforts against the Tudor conquest of Ireland.
Moving into the 17th century, Callan Breheny was an Irish Franciscan friar and historian who wrote extensively on the history of his order and the lives of notable Irish saints and scholars.
In more recent times, Callan was the first name of Callan McAuliffe, an American actor born in 1995, known for his roles in films such as "The Walking Dead" and "Backroads."
Another notable bearer of the name was Callan Mulvey, an Australian actor born in 1975, who has appeared in various films and television shows, including "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and "Underbelly."
While the name Callan has its roots in Irish and Celtic cultures, it has gained popularity in other parts of the world as well. However, its historical significance and connection to ancient Irish traditions remain an integral part of its legacy.
People
Callan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Callan 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
Callan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Callan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10,539 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Callan 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 32,522 US residents.
Is Callan a common name?
We classify Callan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,647 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Callan most popular?
The single biggest year for Callan was 2024, when 1,505 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Callan is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Callan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,476 people with the name Callan, or 1.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,705 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 Callan 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 Callan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Callan on both sides of the split. Of the 5,479 people counted with this name, 4,333 were male (79.1%) and 1,146 were female (20.9%). 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 Callan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Callan is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.3%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Callan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Callan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (4,766 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 Callan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Callan a male name?
Yes, 86.8% of people registered as Callan 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 Callan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Callan 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 Callan 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 common is the name Callan?
See how many Americans are named Callan on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.