Meighan
A feminine name of Gaelic origin meaning "little pearl".
Name Census estimates that about 528 living Americans carry the first name Meighan. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Meighan today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meighan births was 1988 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meighan. 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.
People living today
528
~ 1 in 649,156 Americans
Peak year
1988
43 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2003 SSA rank
#17,455
Tracked since 1965
Census
Meighan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 582 people with the first name Meighan, which placed it at #18,495 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
#18,495
National first-name rank
People counted
582
582 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meighan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meighan is White at 85.9%. The next largest groups are Black (4.3%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Meighan 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 Meighan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.9% · 500
- Black or African American4.3% · 25
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 18
- Two or more races2.2% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 4
Popularity
Meighan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meighan from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 191 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meighan 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 Meighan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Meighans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, Alabama, Florida recorded the most babies named Meighan, while Texas, Florida, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Meighan
The given name Meighan is an anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Maeghdhín, which is a diminutive of the Old Irish name Máedóc, meaning "lord" or "chief." The name originated in Ireland during the early medieval period, around the 5th to 8th centuries AD.
The earliest known historical figure with the name Meighan was Saint Máedóc, also known as Áedan or Moedhóc, who lived in the 7th century AD. He was the founder and first Bishop of Ferns, a town in County Wexford, Ireland. Saint Máedóc's feast day is celebrated on January 31st in the Catholic Church.
Another notable bearer of the name was Meighan Ó Ruairc, a 16th-century Irish chieftain who ruled over the territory of West Breifne (modern-day County Leitrim) from 1532 to 1536. He was known for his resistance against the English crown and his efforts to preserve Irish culture and traditions.
In the 18th century, Meighan O'Reilly (1720-1798) was an Irish Catholic priest and renowned scholar who wrote extensively on Irish history and linguistics. He is best known for his work "Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Society," which helped preserve the Irish language and cultural heritage.
In more recent times, Meighan Richardson (1801-1886) was a British actress and theatre manager who managed the Haymarket Theatre in London for over 30 years. She was known for her performances in Shakespearean plays and her efforts to promote the arts.
Meighan Desmond (1923-2006) was an American actress and singer who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout her career. She is best known for her roles in the classic films "The Thin Man" and "The Maltese Falcon."
People
Meighan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meighan 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
Meighan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meighan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 528 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meighan 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 649,156 US residents.
Is Meighan a common name?
We classify Meighan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 564 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meighan most popular?
The single biggest year for Meighan was 1988, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meighan is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meighan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 582 people with the name Meighan, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,495 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 Meighan 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 Meighan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Meighan leans strongly female. 587 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 9 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Meighan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meighan is White at 85.9%. The next largest groups are Black (4.3%) and Hispanic (3.8%). 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 Meighan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Meighan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.9% (500 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 Meighan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meighan a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Meighan 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 Meighan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meighan 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 Meighan 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 Meighan?
See how many Americans are named Meighan on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.