Dallan
A masculine name derived from an Irish word meaning "from the rocky meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 715 living Americans carry the first name Dallan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Dallan today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Dallan births was 2008 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Dallan. 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 Dallan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
715
~ 1 in 479,377 Americans
Peak year
2008
34 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,693
Tracked since 1938
Census
Dallan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 737 people with the first name Dallan, which placed it at #15,570 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
#15,570
National first-name rank
People counted
737
737 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Dallan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dallan is White at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Black (5.8%). 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 Dallan 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 Dallan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.3% · 555
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 92
- Black or African American5.8% · 43
- Two or more races3.8% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 5
Popularity
Dallan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Dallan from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 224 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
Dallan 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 Dallan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Dallans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Dallan
The name Dallan has its roots in ancient Gaelic culture, tracing back to the 5th century AD. It is derived from the old Irish word "dall," meaning "blind" or "visually impaired." This name was likely given to individuals who had some form of visual impairment or to those who were considered spiritually enlightened or wise beyond their physical sight.
In early Celtic mythology, there are references to a figure named Dallan, a legendary bard and poet who was said to have been blind from birth. His works were celebrated for their profound insights and lyrical beauty, which were believed to stem from his heightened inner vision and intuition.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Dallan can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. It mentions a scholar and scribe named Dallan Forgaill, who lived in the 6th century AD and is credited with authoring a famous eulogy for Saint Columba, the renowned Irish missionary and founder of the influential monastery on the island of Iona.
Throughout the centuries, the name Dallan has been carried by several notable individuals, including Dallan mac Muire (fl. 570s), an Irish poet and religious writer whose compositions were highly regarded in his time. Another prominent figure was Dallan Daly (1787-1868), an Irish language scholar and lexicographer who made significant contributions to preserving and documenting the Irish language.
In the realm of literature, the name Dallan is associated with Dallan Forgaill (fl. 597), an Irish poet and chief ollamh (highest rank of poets) in the court of King Áed Slaine. His poetic works, particularly his elegy for Saint Columba, are considered among the finest examples of early Irish religious poetry.
Additionally, Dallan McGerty (born 1974) is a contemporary Irish artist and sculptor known for his large-scale public installations and works that explore themes of identity, place, and history. His art has been exhibited internationally and is held in prestigious collections worldwide.
People
Dallan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Dallan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Dallan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Dallan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 715 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Dallan 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 479,377 US residents.
Is Dallan a common name?
We classify Dallan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 745 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Dallan most popular?
The single biggest year for Dallan was 2008, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Dallan is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Dallan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 737 people with the name Dallan, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,570 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 Dallan 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 Dallan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Dallan leans strongly male. 689 people counted with this name were male (93.6%), compared with 47 female bearers (6.4%). 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 Dallan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Dallan is White at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Black (5.8%). 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 Dallan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Dallan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.3% (555 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 Dallan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Dallan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Dallan 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 Dallan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Dallan 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 Dallan 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 Dallan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.