Megan
Pearl; a feminine name of Welsh origin meaning "pearl" or "child of light".
Name Census estimates that about 420,586 living Americans carry the first name Megan. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Megan today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Megan births was 1990 (20,303 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Megan. 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 Megan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Megan is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 1,104 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Megan have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
421K
~ 1 in 815 Americans
Peak year
1990
20,303 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2014 SSA rank
#761
Tracked since 1922
Census
Megan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 409,938 people with the first name Megan, which placed it at #114 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
#114
National first-name rank
People counted
410K
409,938 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
135.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Megan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Megan is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Megan 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 Megan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.3% · 357,817
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 19,947
- Two or more races3.3% · 13,447
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 8,879
- Black or African American2.0% · 8,049
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1,799
Gender
Gender distribution for Megan
Out of the 440,869 babies given the name Megan since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Megan as a male name
- Ranked #11,656 in 2014
- 6 male births in 2014
- Peak: 1989 (82 births)
Megan as a female name
- Ranked #761 in 2024
- 369 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (20,259 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Megan appears almost entirely female. Of the 409,941 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Megan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Megan from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 160,640 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Megan 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 Megan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Megans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Megan, while Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8,594 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Megan
The name Megan is a Welsh feminine given name derived from the Welsh word "meg," meaning "pearl" or "precious stone." It is believed to have originated in the Middle Ages, possibly as a diminutive form of the name Margaret.
Megan has its roots in the Celtic languages and was initially popular in Wales and other parts of Britain. The name's earliest recorded use dates back to the 12th century, when it was found in Welsh genealogical records.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Megan was Megan ferch Dafydd, a Welsh noblewoman who lived in the 14th century. She was the daughter of Dafydd ap Gruffydd, a prominent Welsh leader during the Wars of Independence against the English.
Another notable Megan from history was Megan Gwynn, a 16th-century Welsh folk hero and outlaw. According to legend, she robbed from the wealthy and gave to the poor, earning her the nickname "Megan the Fair."
In the 17th century, Megan Lloyd (1627-1690) was a Welsh Baptist minister and one of the founders of the Baptist movement in Wales. She played a significant role in establishing Baptist churches and promoting religious freedom in the region.
During the 18th century, Megan Vaughan (1715-1768) was a Welsh botanist and naturalist who made significant contributions to the study of plants and their medicinal properties. She was known for her extensive knowledge of local flora and her efforts to preserve traditional Welsh plant remedies.
In more recent times, Megan Shaughnessy (1938-2006) was an American actress and director who appeared in numerous television shows and films throughout her career. She was best known for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the classic film "M*A*S*H."
These are just a few examples of the rich history and notable figures associated with the name Megan. Throughout the centuries, this name has maintained a strong connection to its Welsh origins while gaining popularity around the world.
People
Megan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Megan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Megan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Megan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 420,586 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Megan 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 815 US residents.
Is Megan a common name?
We classify Megan as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 440,869 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Megan most popular?
The single biggest year for Megan was 1990, when 20,303 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Megan is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Megan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 409,938 people with the name Megan, or 135.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #114 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 Megan 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 Megan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Megan appears almost entirely female. Of the 409,941 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Megan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Megan is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Megan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Megan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.3% (357,817 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 Megan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Megan a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Megan in the SSA data are female. 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 Megan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Megan 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 Megan 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 Megan as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.