Quinlan
Feminine
Quinlan is given to both — 735 girls and 2,561 boys since 1880. See Quinlan as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Quinlan is an Irish surname with a compliment inside it: Ó Caoindealbháin is generally read as descendant of the gracefully formed one, which is an unusually specific thing for a medieval personal name to say.
How old is the name Quinlan?
Quinlan first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Quinlan alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 700 people named Quinlan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Quinlan most popular?
Quinlan peaked in 2010, reaching #3360 nationally. Today it ranks #5554, 2,194 places below that high. See the whole 2010 chart.
Where it comes from
From Ó Caoindealbháin to Quinlan
The story of Quinlan
The Ó Caoindealbháin were a Meath family descended from the southern Uí Néill, and the surname anglicized as Quinlan, Kindellan and Quinlivan as English-speaking clerks wrote down what they heard. Emigration spread it to America, where it became a given name in the twentieth century in the general Irish surname wave. Its use for girls is recent and follows the pattern of Quinn, which crossed to girls in the 2000s and rose fast; Quinlan's girls' peak in 2010 sits just after. The Q opening, rare in English, is a large part of what makes it work.
Meaningscholars disagree
Descendant of the gracefully shaped one
From Irish Ó Caoindealbháin, built on caoin, gentle or fair, and dealbh, form or shape — giving a personal name meaning something like well-formed or comely. The reading is the standard one in Irish surname scholarship, though the exact sense of the compound is discussed. The anglicization to Quinlan is regular and documented.
How the name formed
- Ó Caoindealbháin
- Quinlan
Related forms: Ó Caoindealbháin · Quinlivan
Pronouncing Quinlan
KWIN-lun
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Irish original is closer to keen-DEL-a-vawn, which is a different name entirely to the ear.
Nicknames for Quinlan
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
- 1988
- Most girls named
- 201048 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3360reached in 2010
- Change vs 2024
- +175.0%22 in 2025, from 8
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.
Quinlan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Caoindealbháin in Irish — related form
- Quinlivan in Irish — spelling variant
Quinlans among us
people named Quinlan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 73,058 born in 2025 was named Quinlan
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 Amisha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Quinlan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Amisha climbed just as high around 1986, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Amisha's path sketches the road Quinlan is walking now.
Quinlan 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
Quinlan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Quinlan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Irish meaning is documented and unusually flattering.
- Quinn is a complete and currently popular short form.
- The Q opening is rare in English and makes it distinctive.
- It is used for both sexes and reads as unisex.
- Quinlan and Quinlivan are both anglicizations and will be confused.
- It reads as a surname on forms.
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What they receive
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Quinlan
Feminine · #5554 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Quinlans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Quinlan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Quinlan in 2025?
- Quinlan ranks #5554 among US girl names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Quinlan?
- About 1 in every 73,058 US girls born in 2025 was named Quinlan — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Quinlan with classmates?
- Quinlan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Quinlan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eda#5554 · Phebe#5554 · Felicia#5554 · Audie#5554 · Maryellen#5554 · Warren#5554 · Ruthann#5554 · Nettie#5554
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Quinlan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Quinlan and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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