Connor
Masculine · “From Irish Conchobhar”
Connor is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 234,546 boys against 1,716 girls since 1880. See Connor as a girl name
Connor comes out of medieval Ireland, from Conchobhar, a name carried by kings of Connacht and by the family whose surname became O'Connor. Two even syllables, both easy in almost any accent, and a spelling that English speakers read correctly on sight. It crossed to America with Irish families as a surname long before it settled in as a first name.
How old is the name Connor?
Connor first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Connor alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 231,000 people named Connor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Connor most popular?
Connor peaked in 2004, reaching #38 nationally. Today it ranks #166, 128 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Connor appears on these lists:
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- Names with a double letter
- Y2K names: the class of the 2000s
- Irish names beyond St. Patrick's Day
- Names ending in -or
- Names the Northeast loves best
- all guides
Works in Irish families too:
Where it comes from
From Conchobar to Connor
The story of Connor
Conchobhar was in use in Ireland well before the Norman arrival, borne by kings of Connacht; the last High King of Ireland belonged to the Ua Conchobhair line in the twelfth century, and it is from that family name that the surname O'Connor descends. Irish legend also gives the name to Conchobar mac Nessa, king of Ulster in the tales of the Ulster Cycle, which is why the name turns up in so much retold Irish literature. Emigration carried the surname to America, Britain and Australia, and in the twentieth century it turned back into a first name — Connor in the United States, Conor more often in Ireland itself. It rose slowly for decades before becoming a standard choice across the English-speaking world.
Meaningscholars disagree
From Irish Conchobhar; the first element is cú, "hound" or "wolf"
The hound element is agreed on. The second, cobhar, is not: it is read either as "desiring" — giving "lover of hounds" or "wolf-lover", the version most often printed — or as "aid, help", giving something closer to "hound of aid". Both are serious readings by Irish scholars, and neither has won.
Cultural footprint
Connor McDavid (b. 1997) — The best hockey player of his generation
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Conchobar
- Conchobhar
- Ó Conchobhair / O'Connor
- Conor
- Connor
Related forms: Conchobhar · Conor · Conchúr · Conner · Konnor · Conchobhar
Pronouncing Connor
KON-er
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with "honor" in most American accents. The older Irish spelling Conchobhar is not pronounced like the English version at all.
Nicknames for Connor
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1913
- Most boys named
- 200410,049 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #38reached in 2004
- Change vs 2023
- −22.7%2,211 in 2025, from 2,861
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Connor in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Conchobhar in Irish — same name
- Conor in Irish English — spelling variant
- Conchúr in Modern Irish — related form
- Conner in English — spelling variant
- Konnor in English — spelling variant
- Conchobhar in Scottish Gaelic — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Pennsylvania.
Connors among us
people named Connor are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 773 born in 2025 was named Connor
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Connor
- #166
- Connor on the 2025 chart
- #146
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Connor went to 2,211 boys in 2025, but Conor and Konnor are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 2,555, which makes it the 146th most-given boys’ name of the year — 20 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 669 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 773 for Connor itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Craig test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Connor's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Craig climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Craig's path sketches the road Connor is walking now.
Connor is coming down from a big peak (#38 in 2004). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Connor is headed
Connor is easing off slowly — about 23% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Connor beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Connor in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A spelling nearly every English speaker reads correctly at first glance, and one no one has to spell out over the phone in a general sense.
- Documented in Ireland since the early medieval period — an unbroken line from Conchobhar through the O'Connor surname to the modern first name.
- In steady use across the United States, Ireland, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, so it travels without translation.
- Short forms already exist and are old: Con and Conn have been in use for centuries.
- Connor, Conor and Conner all sound identical, so expect a lifetime of light corrections. Choosing the spelling you like best and saying it clearly the first time solves most of it.
- Most people carrying the name in America are young adults right now, so it reads to many ears as belonging to a particular stretch of years rather than as a neutral classic.
- "Con" as a short form doubles as an English word with an unhelpful sense. Plenty of families simply skip it and use the full name.
- It has stepped back from its high point, which in practice means a child is unlikely to share it with anyone in the room — a shift from how it felt a couple of decades ago.
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Connor
Masculine · #166 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Connors are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 231,000 people named Connor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Connor?
- Connor is the most-used spelling in US records — 2,211 of the 2,555 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Conor and Konnor.
- How popular is the name Connor in 2025?
- Connor ranks #166 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,211 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Connor?
- About 1 in every 773 US boys born in 2025 was named Connor — 2,211 in all.
- Will my child share the name Connor with classmates?
- Connor will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Connor
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jason#165 · Jayce#167 · Beckham#168 · Ace#164 · Jett#169 · Hayes#162 · Ivan#162 · Matias#170
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Connor? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Connor and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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