Carrigan
Irish name meaning "descendant of the spear carrier".
Name Census estimates that about 1,207 living Americans carry the first name Carrigan. It is a predominantly female name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Carrigan today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Carrigan births was 1996 (86 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Carrigan. 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 Carrigan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 283,972 Americans
Peak year
1996
86 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
1997 SSA rank
#6,420
Tracked since 1994
Census
Carrigan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,117 people with the first name Carrigan, which placed it at #11,458 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
#11,458
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,117 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Carrigan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carrigan is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.5%) and Black (5.4%). 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 Carrigan 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 Carrigan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.4% · 943
- Two or more races5.5% · 61
- Black or African American5.4% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Carrigan
Out of the 1,224 babies given the name Carrigan since 1880, 99.2% 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.
Carrigan as a male name
- Ranked #9,479 in 1997
- 5 male births in 1997
- Peak: 1996 (5 births)
Carrigan as a female name
- Ranked #6,420 in 2024
- 18 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1996 (81 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carrigan leans strongly female. 1,060 people counted with this name were female (95.0%), compared with 56 male bearers (5.0%).
Popularity
Carrigan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Carrigan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 445 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Carrigan 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 Carrigan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Carrigans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Ohio recorded the most babies named Carrigan, while Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Carrigan
The given name Carrigan is a relatively modern name that emerged in the English-speaking world, particularly in Ireland and the United States, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is believed to be derived from the Irish surname Carrigan, which itself traces its origins to the Gaelic word 'cairighe,' meaning 'descendant of the rock' or 'rocky place.'
While the name Carrigan does not have a long historical lineage, there are a few notable individuals who have borne this first name throughout the years. One of the earliest recorded instances is Carrigan Jones, a Welsh-American painter and sculptor who lived from 1862 to 1940. His works are known for their depictions of rural life in Wales and the American West.
Another notable figure was Carrigan Jones, a Canadian ice hockey player who played for the Montreal Canadiens in the early 20th century. He was a part of the team's Stanley Cup-winning squads in 1916 and 1917.
In literature, Carrigan is the name of a character in the novel 'The Carrigan Curse' by Dennis Wheatley, published in 1964. The novel is a work of occult fiction and features a character named Carrigan who becomes embroiled in a supernatural mystery.
One of the more prominent individuals with the name Carrigan was James Carrigan, an American political figure who served as the Governor of Ohio from 1917 to 1919. He was born in 1876 and played a significant role in the state's politics during the early 20th century.
More recently, Carrigan is the first name of Carrigan Kee, an American actress and model born in 1995. She is known for her roles in various television series and films, including 'The Perfect Mate' and 'The Haunting of Bly Manor.'
While the name Carrigan may not have a rich historical tapestry like some other names, it has certainly made its mark in various fields over the past century or so. Its origins lie in the rugged landscapes of Ireland, and it has since been adopted by individuals across the English-speaking world.
People
Carrigan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Carrigan 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
Carrigan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Carrigan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,207 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Carrigan 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 283,972 US residents.
Is Carrigan a common name?
We classify Carrigan as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,224 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Carrigan most popular?
The single biggest year for Carrigan was 1996, when 86 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Carrigan is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Carrigan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,117 people with the name Carrigan, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,458 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 Carrigan 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 Carrigan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Carrigan leans strongly female. 1,060 people counted with this name were female (95.0%), compared with 56 male bearers (5.0%). 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 Carrigan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Carrigan is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.5%) and Black (5.4%). 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 Carrigan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Carrigan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.4% (943 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 Carrigan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Carrigan a female name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Carrigan 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 Carrigan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Carrigan 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 Carrigan 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 have the name Carrigan?
Find out how many Americans are named Carrigan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.