Egan
Masculine · “descendant of Aodh”
Egan is given to both — 1,219 boys and 49 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Egan is an Irish surname built on Aodh — the name of a fire god, and the commonest men's name in early Ireland.
How old is the name Egan?
Egan first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Egan alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 1,200 people named Egan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Egan most popular?
Egan peaked in 2003, reaching #2349 nationally. Today it ranks #4050, 1,701 places below that high. See the whole 2003 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aodh to Egan
The story of Egan
Aodh was so common in early Ireland that the annals are full of them, and English speakers substituted Hugh for it because the sounds were close — which is why Irish Hughs are usually Aodhs underneath. The Mac Aodhagáin were a family of brehons, hereditary lawyers, in Connacht and Ormond. The surname anglicized as Egan and Keegan, and its use as a given name is recent.
Meaning
descendant of Aodh, that is, of fire
From Irish Mac Aodhagáin, built on Aodh, fire, with a diminutive; Aodh was an early Irish god of the sun and fire and the name was borne by dozens of kings. It gives Hugh in English by substitution rather than descent.
How the name formed
- Aodh
- Aodhagán
- Mac Aodhagáin
- Egan
Related forms: Mac Aodhagáin · Keegan · Aodh
Pronouncing Egan
EE-gan
Two syllables, first stressed. There is little variation in English.
Nicknames for Egan
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 201949 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2349reached in 2003
- Change vs 2024
- −3.7%26 in 2025, from 27
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.
Egan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mac Aodhagáin in Irish — same name
- Keegan in English — related form
- Aodh in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Pennsylvania.
Egans among us
people named Egan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 65,695 born in 2025 was named Egan
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 Deo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Egan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Deo climbed just as high around 1924, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Deo's path sketches the road Egan is walking now.
Egan 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
Where Egan is headed
Egan should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Egan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Egan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Irish meaning with a genuinely deep mythological root.
- Four letters and two syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
- Egan, Keegan and Eagan are all in use and get confused.
- The hereditary-lawyer family behind it needs a sentence of explanation.
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What they receive
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Egan
Masculine · #4050 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Egans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Egan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Egan in 2025?
- Egan ranks #4050 among US boy names in 2025, with 26 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Egan?
- About 1 in every 65,695 US boys born in 2025 was named Egan — 26 in all.
- Will my child share the name Egan with classmates?
- Egan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Egan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Myer#4050 · Hewitt#4050 · Antonino#4050 · Johnmichael#4050 · Gauge#4050 · Emran#4050 · Demani#4050 · Freeman#4050
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Egan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Egan and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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