Cullan
A masculine given name of Gaelic origin meaning "handsome lad".
Name Census estimates that about 323 living Americans carry the first name Cullan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cullan today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cullan births was 1994 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cullan. 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 Cullan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
323
~ 1 in 1,061,159 Americans
Peak year
1994
22 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2019 SSA rank
#11,053
Tracked since 1980
Census
Cullan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 365 people with the first name Cullan, which placed it at #25,801 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
#25,801
National first-name rank
People counted
365
365 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cullan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cullan is White at 89.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.2%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Cullan 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 Cullan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.9% · 328
- Two or more races5.2% · 19
- Black or African American3.8% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Cullan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cullan from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 119 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
Cullan 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 Cullan 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 Cullan
The given name Cullan has its origins in the Gaelic language and culture, specifically from Ireland and Scotland. It is believed to have derived from the old Irish word "culenn," which means "holly tree" or "holly bush." The name's earliest recorded use dates back to the 6th century CE in ancient Irish texts and manuscripts.
Cullan was a relatively common name among the Irish and Scottish clans during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Saint Cullan, an Irish monk who lived in the 7th century CE and founded several monasteries in Ireland. Another notable figure was Cullan the Bald, a 9th-century Irish scribe and scholar who worked at the famous monastery of Iona in Scotland.
In the 11th century, a Scottish nobleman named Cullan of Argyll played a significant role in the wars between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of Strathclyde. His exploits were documented in various chronicles and historical records of the time.
During the 12th century, a renowned Irish poet and storyteller named Cullan the Bard was highly regarded for his works, which were widely circulated among the literary circles of the time.
In the 16th century, Cullan O'Mullan was a notable Irish chieftain and leader of the O'Mullan clan. He was known for his fierce resistance against the English forces during the Tudor conquest of Ireland.
Throughout history, there have been several variations and spellings of the name Cullan, such as Cullen, Cullin, and Cuilean, which were used in different regions and time periods. However, the core meaning and origin of the name have remained consistent, reflecting the rich cultural heritage of the Gaelic-speaking peoples.
People
Cullan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cullan 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
Cullan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cullan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 323 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cullan 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 1,061,159 US residents.
Is Cullan a common name?
We classify Cullan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 329 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cullan most popular?
The single biggest year for Cullan was 1994, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cullan is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cullan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 365 people with the name Cullan, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,801 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 Cullan 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 Cullan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cullan leans strongly male. 360 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 6 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Cullan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cullan is White at 89.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.2%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Cullan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cullan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.9% (328 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 Cullan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cullan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cullan 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 Cullan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cullan 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 Cullan 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 Cullan as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Cullan, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.