Falon
Feminine · “leader”
Falon is given to both — 1,983 girls and 83 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
A prime-time serial that ran from 1981 put a set of names into American birth records almost overnight, and this is one of the clearest cases. Fallon was an Irish surname nobody used for children. The show gave it to a daughter of the family, and within two years it was being registered across the country.
How old is the name Falon?
Falon first appears in US birth records in 1981 — 44 years ago. The typical Falon alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 1,900 people named Falon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Falon most popular?
Falon peaked in 1983, reaching #842 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 11,090 places below that high. See the whole 1983 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Fallamhan to Falon
The story of Falon
Irish surnames became American given names in bulk during the twentieth century, but they usually needed a push, and television supplied a great many of the pushes. This one is unusually easy to date because the name had essentially no prior use: it appears in the records at the start of the 1980s, rises for two or three years and then falls back, which is the signature of a single television character rather than a fashion. The surname itself is respectable and old, from a family in Roscommon and Westmeath, and means what a great many Gaelic surnames mean — that an ancestor was in charge of something.
Meaningscholars disagree
leader, one in charge
From Irish O Fallamhain, descendant of Fallamhan, a personal name built on a word meaning leadership or supremacy. The reading is standard in Irish surname scholarship but the underlying personal name is older than the explanations for it. The single l in this spelling is American.
How the name formed
- Fallamhan
- O Fallamhain
- Fallon
- Falon
Related forms: O Fallamhain
Pronouncing Falon
FAL-un
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the second reduced almost to nothing. Falon and Fallon are said identically; the doubled l changes only the look.
Nicknames for Falon
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
- 1981
- Most girls named
- 1983182 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #842reached in 1983
- Change vs 2024
- −22.2%7 in 2025, from 9
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.
Falon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- O Fallamhain in Irish — related form
Falons among us
people named Falon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Falon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Falon
- #11932
- Falon on the 2025 chart
- #626
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Falon went to 7 girls in 2025, but Fallon is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 356, which makes it the 626th most-given girls’ name of the year — 11,306 places above the chart.
- Fallon349
- Falon7
About 1 girl in 4,515 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 229,610 for Falon 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 Madlyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Falon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Madlyn climbed just as high around 1922, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Madlyn's path sketches the road Falon is walking now.
Falon 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
Falon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Falon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Irish surname with a traceable family and region behind it.
- Two syllables that everyone reads correctly on sight.
- It serves either child, and the records show both.
- Fallon with two l's is much commoner and this spelling will be corrected toward it.
- It can be dated to a specific television run, which places the bearer in a narrow band of years.
- The few boys given this spelling will be read as girls on paper, which reverses the surname's history.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Falon to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Falon? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Falon
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Falons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,900 people named Falon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Falon?
- Falon is one of 2 recorded spellings. Fallon is the more common one — 349 births in 2025 against 7 for Falon.
- How popular is the name Falon in 2025?
- Falon ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Falon?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Falon — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Falon with classmates?
- Falon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Falon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Falon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Falon and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle