Garran
An Irish name meaning "shrubbery" or "garden".
Name Census estimates that about 11 living Americans carry the first name Garran. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Garran today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Garran births was 2006 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Garran. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Garran. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
11
~ 1 in 31,159,485 Americans
Peak year
2006
6 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2014 SSA rank
#12,682
Tracked since 2006
Popularity
Garran: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Garran from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 6 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
Garran 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 Garran 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 Garran
The name Garran is believed to have originated from the Gaelic language, which was spoken in Ireland and Scotland during ancient times. It is thought to be derived from the old Irish word "gárán," which means "shrubbery" or "rough terrain." This suggests that the name may have initially been given to individuals who lived in rural or forested areas.
In the early medieval period, the name Garran was primarily found in Irish and Scottish regions. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Annals of Ulster, a historical chronicle composed in the 15th century, which mentions a man named Garran mac Finguine, who lived in the 7th century.
The name Garran has also been associated with various historical figures throughout the centuries. In the 12th century, there was a Scottish cleric named Garran of Galloway, who served as the Bishop of Galloway from 1189 to 1199. Another notable figure was Garran Dub Ó Maolconaire, an Irish poet and historian who lived in the 16th century and was known for his works chronicling the history of the O'Conor dynasty.
In the 17th century, a man named Garran O'Donnell was a prominent figure in the Irish Confederate Wars, serving as a lieutenant-general in the Confederate Catholic army. During the same period, Garran de Coulange, a French lawyer and historian, was born in 1665 and is remembered for his influential works on legal history.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Garran de Balzan was a Maltese politician and writer who played a significant role in the National Assembly of Malta in the 1840s. Additionally, Garran Wilkinson, an Australian lawyer and politician, was born in 1858 and served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1901 to 1913.
While the name Garran has its roots in ancient Celtic cultures, it has been adopted and used across various regions and time periods, with individuals bearing this name leaving their mark in fields such as religion, literature, politics, and law.
People
Garran + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Garran as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Garran: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Garran?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Garran 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 31,159,485 US residents.
Is Garran a common name?
We classify Garran as "Very Rare". It ranks above 30.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Garran most popular?
The single biggest year for Garran was 2006, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Garran is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Garran in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Garran a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Garran 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 Garran still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Garran 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 Garran 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Garran?
Want to know how many Americans are named Garran? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.