Meagen
Feminine · “Pearl”
Meagen inserts an a into Megan, which turns a plain short e into a two-letter combination with no fixed value in English. Ea says one thing in bread, another in bead and a third in break; adding it to a name that did not need it hands the reader a choice.
How old is the name Meagen?
Meagen first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Meagen alive today was born around 1988, making them about 37 years old. About 1,200 people named Meagen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Meagen most popular?
Meagen peaked in 1985, reaching #1395 nationally. See the whole 1985 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From margarites to Meagen
The story of Meagen
The name stayed in Wales for a very long time. Welsh made its own pet forms of the names that arrived with the Normans and the church, and Megan is one of them, built the way Welsh builds them and used inside the language for centuries without crossing the border. It appears in English-speaking use in any numbers only in the twentieth century, and in America later still. That pattern is common with Welsh names, which tend to arrive in English in a rush after a long absence: Dylan, Gareth, Rhys and Bronwen all did the same thing, sitting quietly at home for generations and then being adopted wholesale by people with no connection to the country.
Meaning
Pearl
Megan is a Welsh pet form of Margaret, from the Greek word for a pearl. The meaning belongs to the full name; the Welsh diminutive adds familiarity and the American respelling adds nothing at all. The connection to Margaret is invisible in English and obvious to a Welsh speaker.
How the name formed
- margarites
- Marged
- Megan
- Meagen
Related forms: Megan · Marged
Pronouncing Meagen
MEG-un
Two syllables with the stress at the front and a short first vowel. The inserted a asks for a long one, as in eagle, which nobody says; the name is known by ear before it is met on paper.
Nicknames for Meagen
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 198592 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1395reached in 1985
- Change vs 2007
- +33.3%8 in 2009, from 6
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.
Meagen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Megan in Welsh — same name
- Marged in Welsh — related form
Meagens among us
people named Meagen are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Meagen sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The spoken name is completely established in English and needs no explaining.
- Meg is a short, plain, adult everyday form available immediately.
- The name has a real Welsh history behind it that can be checked.
- The ea fights the pronunciation, so the spelling misleads readers meeting it cold.
- Megan, Meghan and Meagan are all commoner, so spelling it out is permanent.
- It is closely dated to the last decades of the twentieth century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Meagen 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 Meagen? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Meagen
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Meagens 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 Meagen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Meagen in 2025?
- Meagen is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Meagen with classmates?
- Meagen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Meagen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Meagen 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