Quillan
An Irish name meaning "green" or "fertile land."
Name Census estimates that about 367 living Americans carry the first name Quillan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Quillan today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Quillan births was 2019 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Quillan. 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 Quillan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
367
~ 1 in 933,936 Americans
Peak year
2019
19 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,625
Tracked since 1982
Census
Quillan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 338 people with the first name Quillan, which placed it at #27,177 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
#27,177
National first-name rank
People counted
338
338 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Quillan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quillan is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Black (16.9%) and Two or More Races (10.1%). 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 Quillan 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 Quillan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.3% · 214
- Black or African American16.9% · 57
- Two or more races10.1% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 7
Popularity
Quillan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Quillan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 122 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Quillan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Quillan 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 Quillan 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 Quillan
The name Quillan is of Celtic origin, deriving from the Old Breton word "quillen," which means "hazel tree." It is believed to have originated in the region of Brittany, located in modern-day northwest France, during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Quillan can be found in the 12th-century Breton manuscript "Cartulaire de Quimperlé," which mentions a person named "Quillan ap Gwilherm." This document serves as evidence of the name's usage in ancient Brittany.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Quillan. One of the most prominent figures was Quillan the Bard, a 13th-century Welsh poet and storyteller who is credited with preserving many ancient Welsh tales and legends through his oral traditions.
Another notable bearer of the name was Quillan of Armorica, a 5th-century Christian missionary and saint who is venerated in parts of Brittany and Cornwall. His life and works are documented in the "Acta Sanctorum," a collection of biographies of saints compiled by the Bollandists.
In the 16th century, Quillan de Lannion was a renowned Breton navigator and explorer who participated in several voyages to the Americas and helped establish French settlements in present-day Canada.
Moving forward in time, Quillan O'Flaherty (1809-1892) was an Irish-born Australian explorer and surveyor who played a significant role in mapping the interior regions of Australia during the 19th century.
More recently, Quillan Roberts (1958-2021) was a Welsh actor and playwright known for his contributions to the Welsh language theatre scene and his advocacy for the preservation of Welsh culture and traditions.
While the name Quillan has its roots in ancient Celtic cultures, it has transcended geographical boundaries and continues to be used across various parts of the world, carrying with it a rich history and cultural significance.
People
Quillan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Quillan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Q
Other first names starting with Q with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Quillan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Quillan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 367 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Quillan 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 933,936 US residents.
Is Quillan a common name?
We classify Quillan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 373 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Quillan most popular?
The single biggest year for Quillan was 2019, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Quillan is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Quillan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 338 people with the name Quillan, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,177 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 Quillan 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 Quillan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Quillan leans strongly male. 304 people counted with this name were male (90.7%), compared with 31 female bearers (9.3%). 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 Quillan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quillan is White at 63.3%. The next largest groups are Black (16.9%) and Two or More Races (10.1%). 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 Quillan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Quillan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.3% (214 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 Quillan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Quillan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Quillan 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 Quillan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Quillan 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 Quillan 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 common is the name Quillan?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.