Pegeen
A feminine diminutive of the Irish name Peg or Margaret.
Name Census estimates that about 157 living Americans carry the first name Pegeen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Pegeen today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pegeen births was 1959 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pegeen. 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
157
~ 1 in 2,183,149 Americans
Peak year
1959
19 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1971 SSA rank
#9,235
Tracked since 1947
Popularity
Pegeen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pegeen from the 1940s through to the 1970s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 115 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pegeen 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 Pegeen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pegeens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Pegeen
The name Pegeen is derived from the Irish Gaelic name Peidgin, which is a diminutive form of the name Peg, itself a pet form of the name Margaret. The name Margaret originates from the Greek name Margarites, meaning "pearl." The diminutive Peidgin likely emerged in Ireland in the 16th or 17th century as a affectionate form of the name Margaret.
Pegeen is predominantly found in Ireland, particularly in the western regions of the country. It has also been used in Scottish Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland, where the similar diminutive form Peigi is found. The name is associated with Irish and Scottish Gaelic culture and language.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Pegeen is in the play "The Playboy of the Western World" by Irish writer John Millington Synge, first performed in 1907. In the play, Pegeen is the name of a central character, the daughter of a pub owner. This literary work helped to popularize the name in the early 20th century.
Notable historical figures with the name Pegeen include Pegeen O'Sullivan (1865-1957), an Irish folk singer and storyteller from County Cork, renowned for her preservation of traditional Irish songs and tales. Another was Pegeen Cummins (1925-2016), an American actress and model who appeared in films and television shows in the 1940s and 1950s.
Pegeen Moran (1939-2021) was an Irish writer and broadcaster, known for her work in promoting Irish language and culture. Pegeen Brennan (1910-1986) was an American writer and journalist who wrote extensively about Irish culture and her experiences living in Ireland.
Pegeen Fitzgerald (1902-1976) was an Irish-American actress and singer who performed on Broadway and in several films in the 1930s and 1940s. She was known for her roles in plays by Irish writers like Sean O'Casey and J.M. Synge.
People
Pegeen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pegeen as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pegeen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pegeen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 157 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pegeen 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 2,183,149 US residents.
Is Pegeen a common name?
We classify Pegeen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 202 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pegeen most popular?
The single biggest year for Pegeen was 1959, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pegeen is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Pegeen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pegeen 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.
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.