Eagan
A masculine name of Irish origin meaning "little fire" or "son of a chief".
Name Census estimates that about 431 living Americans carry the first name Eagan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Eagan today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Eagan births was 2022 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Eagan. 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 Eagan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
431
~ 1 in 795,254 Americans
Peak year
2022
31 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,961
Tracked since 1997
Census
Eagan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 356 people with the first name Eagan, which placed it at #26,232 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
#26,232
National first-name rank
People counted
356
356 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Eagan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eagan is White at 75.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Two or More Races (8.1%). 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 Eagan 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 Eagan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.8% · 270
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 30
- Two or more races8.1% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 15
- Black or African American2.8% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Eagan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Eagan 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 167 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Eagan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Eagan 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 Eagan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Eagans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Eagan
The given name Eagan has its origins in the Gaelic language, specifically the Irish Gaelic form of the name "Eoghan" or "Eogan". It is derived from the Old Irish word "óen", which means "born of yew" or "yew tree". The yew tree held significant symbolism in ancient Celtic culture and was considered a sacred tree associated with longevity, protection, and regeneration.
The name Eagan can be traced back to the early medieval period in Ireland, where it was borne by several notable figures in Irish history and mythology. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the ancient Irish text "Lebor Gabála Érenn" (The Book of Invasions), which mentions the legendary figure Eogan Mor, the son of Muiredach Bolgrach, who was said to have ruled over a territory in what is now County Meath in the 6th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Eagan was particularly popular among the Irish clans and dynasties, with several notable bearers of the name playing influential roles in Irish history. For instance, Eogan Ua Donnubain (born c. 1140) was the King of Fernmag (County Fermanagh) in the late 12th century, while Eagan O'Cahill (born c. 1350) was a renowned Irish poet and historian from County Cavan.
In the 16th century, Eagan O'Rahilly (born c. 1560) was a prominent Irish scholar, historian, and poet who played a significant role in preserving and promoting Irish literature and culture. Another notable figure was Eagan O'Donnell (born c. 1580), who was a prominent Irish chieftain and leader of the O'Donnell clan during the Nine Years' War (1594-1603) against English rule in Ireland.
Moving into the modern era, the name Eagan has continued to be used, albeit less frequently than in earlier centuries. One notable bearer of the name was Eagan Lamont (1914-1989), an American film and television actor who appeared in numerous westerns and crime dramas throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
While the name Eagan has its roots in Irish Gaelic culture, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world, particularly in countries with strong Irish diaspora communities, such as the United States, Canada, and Australia.
People
Eagan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Eagan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Eagan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Eagan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 431 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Eagan 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 795,254 US residents.
Is Eagan a common name?
We classify Eagan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 435 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Eagan most popular?
The single biggest year for Eagan was 2022, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Eagan is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Eagan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 356 people with the name Eagan, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,232 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 Eagan 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 Eagan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eagan leans strongly male. 346 people counted with this name were male (95.8%), compared with 15 female bearers (4.2%). 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 Eagan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eagan is White at 75.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Two or More Races (8.1%). 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 Eagan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Eagan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.8% (270 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 Eagan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Eagan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Eagan 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 Eagan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Eagan 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 Eagan 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 Eagan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.