Finnigan
An Irish masculine name, roughly meaning "fair-headed" or "fair one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,291 living Americans carry the first name Finnigan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Finnigan today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Finnigan births was 2016 (103 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Finnigan. 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 Finnigan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Finnigan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 265,495 Americans
Peak year
2016
103 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,796
Tracked since 1999
Census
Finnigan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 952 people with the first name Finnigan, which placed it at #12,871 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
#12,871
National first-name rank
People counted
952
952 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Finnigan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Finnigan is White at 88.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.9%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Finnigan 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 Finnigan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.3% · 841
- Two or more races5.9% · 56
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 48
- Black or African American0.4% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Finnigan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Finnigan 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 710 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Finnigan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Finnigan 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 Finnigan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Finnigans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Ohio, Michigan, New York recorded the most babies named Finnigan, while Utah, Oregon, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Finnigan
The given name Finnigan originated from the Irish Gaelic language and culture. It is derived from the old Irish word "fionnghal" which means "fair stranger" or "white stranger". The name dates back to the early medieval period in Ireland, around the 5th to 8th centuries AD.
The name Finnigan was initially used by the Gaelic Irish people living in the northern regions of Ireland, particularly in the provinces of Ulster and Connacht. It was a common practice among the Gaelic Irish to give names that described a person's physical appearance or characteristics, which explains the meaning of "fair stranger" or "white stranger" for Finnigan.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Finnigan can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history written by monks in the late 15th century. The chronicle mentions a person named Finnigan mac Conchobair, who was a chieftain of the Uí Briúin dynasty in the 11th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Finnigan. One of the most famous was Finnigan O'Driscoll (1560-1629), an Irish soldier and mercenary who fought in the Nine Years' War against English forces in Ireland. Another notable figure was Finnigan O'Connor (1720-1794), an Irish scholar and philosopher who wrote extensively on topics such as ethics and metaphysics.
In the 19th century, Finnigan Dolan (1825-1892) was a prominent Irish-American journalist and political activist who campaigned for Irish independence from British rule. Finnigan Whelan (1887-1967) was an Irish novelist and playwright whose works explored themes of rural life and the struggles of the Irish working class.
Another notable individual was Finnigan O'Malley (1910-1989), an Irish-American labor leader and civil rights activist who played a significant role in the American labor movement in the mid-20th century. He advocated for workers' rights and fought against discrimination in the workplace.
While the name Finnigan has Irish origins, it has been used by people of various nationalities and cultural backgrounds throughout history, particularly among those with Irish heritage or connections to Ireland.
People
Finnigan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Finnigan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Finnigan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Finnigan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,291 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Finnigan 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 265,495 US residents.
Is Finnigan a common name?
We classify Finnigan as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,302 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Finnigan most popular?
The single biggest year for Finnigan was 2016, when 103 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Finnigan is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Finnigan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 952 people with the name Finnigan, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,871 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 Finnigan 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 Finnigan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Finnigan leans strongly male. 927 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 20 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Finnigan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Finnigan is White at 88.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.9%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Finnigan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Finnigan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.3% (841 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 Finnigan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Finnigan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Finnigan 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 Finnigan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Finnigan 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 Finnigan 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 are named Finnigan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.