Deagan
Masculine · “Descendant of the deacon”
Deagan is an Irish surname built on a church office: Ó Deagáin means descendant of the deacon, and clerical families of that kind were entirely normal in the Irish church before the reforms of the twelfth century.
How old is the name Deagan?
Deagan first appears in US birth records in 1997 — 28 years ago. The typical Deagan alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 1,000 people named Deagan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Deagan most popular?
Deagan peaked in 2009, reaching #1762 nationally. Today it ranks #5608, 3,846 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From diaconus to Deagan
The story of Deagan
Hereditary church offices were an ordinary feature of the early Irish church, and surnames formed on clerical titles — Ó Deagáin the deacon's family, Mac an tSagairt the priest's son, Ó Cléirigh the cleric's — record that. The Ó Deagáin were an Offaly and Leix family. As an American given name Deagan is entirely recent, appearing after 2000 in the general Irish surname wave alongside Declan, Keegan and Grady, and its peak in 2009 sits inside that. It is also plainly influenced by Declan, with which it shares almost everything.
Meaning
Descendant of the deacon
From Irish Ó Deagáin, from deagán, a deacon, itself borrowed from Latin diaconus and ultimately Greek diakonos, a servant or minister. The reading is settled. The surname anglicizes as Deegan, Deagan and Degan; the given name is taken from the surname and is very recent.
How the name formed
- diaconus
- deagán
- Ó Deagáin
- Deagan
Related forms: Ó Deagáin · Deegan
Pronouncing Deagan
DEE-gun
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Irish Ó Deagáin is closer to oh-DAG-awn, which is a different name to the ear.
Nicknames for Deagan
Moderate
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
- 1997
- Most boys named
- 200986 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1762reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- −5.9%16 in 2025, from 17
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.
Deagan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Deagáin in Irish — related form
- Deegan in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Utah.
Deagans among us
people named Deagan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 106,755 born in 2025 was named Deagan
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ky test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Deagan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ky climbed just as high around 1987, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ky's path sketches the road Deagan is walking now.
Deagan sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Deagan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Deagan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Irish meaning is settled and unusually specific.
- Everyone can say it after one hearing.
- It sits comfortably beside the popular Irish surname names.
- Deegan is the commoner surname spelling and will be written for it.
- It is regularly confused with Declan, which is a different name.
- It is closely dated to the 2000s.
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Deagan
Masculine · #5608 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Deagans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Deagan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Deagan in 2025?
- Deagan ranks #5608 among US boy names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Deagan?
- About 1 in every 106,755 US boys born in 2025 was named Deagan — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Deagan with classmates?
- Deagan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Deagan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rolland#5608 · Llewellyn#5608 · Arlie#5608 · Gerrit#5608 · Vinson#5608 · Georgie#5608 · Wally#5608 · Webb#5608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Deagan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Deagan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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