girl's name
Megan
MEG-un
- Origin Welsh
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 559,225
the United States
#888
2025 births
Megan is a girl's name, the Welsh pet form of Margaret, from a Greek word for pearl that reached Europe from Persian. It peaked in 1990 and charts in six of the seven markets we track.
- Megan is a name of Welsh origin.
- Peaked in 1990, when 20,303 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 11,014 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1922.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Megan over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1920s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1920s | 39 |
| 1930s | 47 |
| 1940s | 191 |
| 1950s | 1,887 |
| 1960s | 5,921 |
| 1970s | 37,491 |
| 1980s | 154,070 |
| 1990s | 160,642 |
| 2000s | 66,953 |
| 2010s | 11,499 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,429 |
What Megan means
Megan means pearl, carried through Margaret. The Greek word was itself borrowed from further east, so the pearl reading is secure while anything behind it is not.
Where Megan comes from
Megan is the Welsh diminutive of Marged, which is the Welsh form of Margaret, from the Greek margarites — a pearl. Greek took the word from a Persian or Sanskrit source, and it moved west with the trade in pearls themselves. Saint Margaret of Antioch, said to have been swallowed by a dragon and to have escaped when the cross she carried irritated its insides, was among the most popular medieval saints, which carried the name across Europe. Megan stayed distinctly Welsh until the twentieth century, when it spread through the English-speaking world and largely lost the association.
Megan in use
Megan peaked in the United States in 1990, when 20,303 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 371st in Ireland on 11 births, 417th in Scotland, 827th in England and Wales on 44, 888th in the United States on 301 and 6627th in France, across 559,225 lifetime births. Our records carry it only from 1922, so its entire measured history postdates its spread out of Wales.
How popular is Megan?
In 2025, Megan was given to 301 babies in the United States, ranking #888 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Megan is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Megan is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Mégan | Mégan is a rare spelling of Megan, written with an acute accent and recorded about 115 times, mostly in France. | 115 |
Names that peaked alongside Megan
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Megan also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Megan over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Megan
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Megan in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Megan
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Megan — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Megan
What does the name Megan mean?
Pearl, carried through Margaret from the Greek margarites.
Is Megan a Welsh name?
Yes — it is the Welsh diminutive of Marged, the Welsh form of Margaret.
Is it Megan or Meghan?
Megan is the Welsh spelling; Meghan is a later variant, more common in North America.
How popular is Megan?
888th in the United States and 371st in Ireland, down from a 1990 peak of 20,303 births.
Is Megan a girl's or a boy's name?
Megan is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Megan?
Megan has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Megan?
Megan is usually shortened to Meg.
Is Megan a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Megan currently ranks #371 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.