girl's name
Meghan
MEG-un
- Origin Welsh
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 107,088
Northern Ireland
#511
2020 births
Meghan means pearl, through Megan and Margaret, and the h is an American addition — Welsh spells it Megan, and the extra letter appeared in twentieth-century American use with no basis in the original.
- Meghan is a name of Welsh origin.
- Peaked in 1985, when 4,682 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 32,503 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1952.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Meghan over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1950s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1950s | 102 |
| 1960s | 958 |
| 1970s | 9,396 |
| 1980s | 36,353 |
| 1990s | 31,528 |
| 2000s | 14,099 |
| 2010s | 3,045 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,246 |
What Meghan means
Meghan means pearl, carried through Megan from Margaret. The Greek margarites names the gem, and the diminutive route through Welsh changes nothing about the sense.
Where Meghan comes from
Meghan respells Megan, the Welsh pet form of Marged, which is the Welsh Margaret, from the Greek margarites — a pearl, a word Greek appears to have borrowed from an Indo-Iranian source. Welsh has no h in the name; the spelling is American and twentieth-century. Margaret produced an unusually large family: Peggy, Meg, Maggie, Marjorie, Rita, Greta and Daisy, the last because the French for a daisy is marguerite.
Meghan in use
Meghan peaked in the United States in 1985, when 4,682 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It charts in five of the seven markets we track — 1098th in Ireland on 3 births, 1910th in the United States on 102, 2090th in Canada, 2424th in England and Wales on 12 and 7231st in France — across 107,088 lifetime births. Our records carry it from 1948.
How popular is Meghan?
In 2025, Meghan was given to 102 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Meghan 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 Meghan is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Méghan | Méghan is a rare spelling of Meghan, written with an acute accent and recorded about 15 times, mostly in France. | 15 |
Names that peaked alongside Meghan
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Meghan also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Meghan over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Meghan
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.
Meghan 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 Meghan
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Meghan — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Meghan
What does the name Meghan mean?
Pearl — through Megan and the Welsh Marged, from the Greek margarites.
Is it Meghan or Megan?
Megan is the Welsh spelling. The h is an American addition with no basis in the original.
Is Daisy related?
By translation — the French for a daisy is marguerite.
How popular is Meghan?
1910th in the United States, down from a 1985 peak of 4,682 births.
Is Meghan a girl's or a boy's name?
Meghan is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Meghan?
Meghan has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Meghan?
Meghan is usually shortened to Meg.
Is Meghan a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Meghan currently ranks #1,098 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.