Conlan
Meaning "great wolf", a masculine given name of Irish Gaelic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 893 living Americans carry the first name Conlan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Conlan today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Conlan births was 2005 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Conlan. 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
893
~ 1 in 383,823 Americans
Peak year
2005
50 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,845
Tracked since 1987
Popularity
Conlan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Conlan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 364 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Conlan 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 Conlan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Conlans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Illinois, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Conlan, while Texas, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Conlan
The name Conlan is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic words "con" meaning hound or wolf, and "lan" meaning full or complete. It is believed to have originated in the medieval period, around the 10th century CE, when Irish Gaelic names were widely used across Ireland.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Conlan can be found in the Irish epic tale, "The Cattle Raid of Cooley", which dates back to the 8th or 9th century. In this ancient text, Conlan is the name of a warrior and nephew of the legendary hero Cú Chulainn. This early literary reference suggests that the name was already in use among the Gaelic people of Ireland during that time.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Conlan remained predominantly concentrated in Ireland, particularly among families and clans with strong Irish heritage and ties to the Gaelic tradition. However, as Irish migration increased in later centuries, the name slowly began to spread to other parts of the world.
One notable figure bearing the name Conlan was Conlan of Ardskeagh (1624-1677), an Irish soldier and landowner who fought in the Irish Confederate Wars of the 1640s. Another historically significant individual was Conlan John Scanlan (1866-1950), an Irish-American prelate who served as the Bishop of Salt Lake City from 1927 to 1948.
In more recent times, the name Conlan has gained recognition through individuals such as Conlan Sunderson (born 1990), a Canadian professional ice hockey player, and Conlan Scanlan (born 1998), an Irish professional mixed martial artist.
While the name Conlan is not as common as some other Irish names, it has maintained a strong connection to its Gaelic roots and continues to be used by families with Irish heritage or an appreciation for the rich cultural traditions of Ireland.
People
Conlan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Conlan 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
Conlan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Conlan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 893 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Conlan 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 383,823 US residents.
Is Conlan a common name?
We classify Conlan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 905 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Conlan most popular?
The single biggest year for Conlan was 2005, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Conlan is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Conlan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Conlan 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.