Quinn
Masculine · “Descendant of Conn”
Quinn is given to both — 36,992 boys and 52,503 girls since 1880. See Quinn as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Quinn began as an Irish surname — Ó Cuinn, the family of Conn — and it is still one of the most widespread surnames in Ireland today. It crossed to America with Irish emigration, waited a long time as a last name, and then stepped forward as a first name for girls and boys alike. One syllable, one clean sound, and no silent letters to explain.
How old is the name Quinn?
Quinn first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Quinn alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 35,500 people named Quinn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Quinn most popular?
Quinn peaked in 2009, reaching #259 nationally. Today it ranks #466, 207 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Quinn appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Conn to Quinn
The story of Quinn
Ó Cuinn was a surname of several distinct Irish families, notably in Tyrone, Longford and Clare, and it was anglicized to Quinn and Quin as English administration reshaped Irish names. The Conn behind it is an old and honored Irish name — Conn Cétchathach, Conn of the Hundred Battles, is a High King in early Irish legend and tradition. Emigration carried Quinn across the Atlantic in the nineteenth century, where it settled as one of the most familiar Irish surnames in America. Its life as a given name is far more recent: an American surname-to-first-name move, taken up for boys first and then, more widely, for girls.
Meaningscholars disagree
Descendant of Conn — a name read as either "chief" or "sense, counsel"
Quinn is the anglicized form of the Irish Ó Cuinn, "descendant of Conn". What Conn itself meant is where scholars part ways: one reading takes it from Old Irish conn, "chief, head"; another from a word for sense, reason or counsel. Both readings are long-standing and neither has driven the other out.
How the name formed
- Conn
- Ó Cuinn
- Quinn
Related forms: Ó Cuinn · Conn · Quin · Quinne
Pronouncing Quinn
KWIN
One syllable, rhyming with "win". The same in Ireland, Britain, Canada and the US — there is no second pronunciation to correct.
Nicknames for Quinn
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
- 20091,340 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #259reached in 2009
- Change vs 2023
- −3.4%663 in 2025, from 686
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.
Quinn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Cuinn in Irish — same name
- Conn in Irish — related form
- Quin in English — spelling variant
- Quinne in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Pennsylvania.
Quinns among us
people named Quinn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,576 born in 2025 was named Quinn
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 Arturo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Quinn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Arturo climbed just as high around 1990, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Arturo's path sketches the road Quinn is walking now.
Quinn 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 Quinn is headed
Quinn 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.
Quinn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Quinn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and phonetic: people who hear it can spell it, and people who read it can say it.
- Works unchanged across the English-speaking world — it also charts in Canada and Scotland, and it is instantly recognizable in Ireland.
- Traceable to a real Irish surname with centuries of records behind it, rather than a recent coinage.
- Short enough to sit easily beside long middle names and multi-syllable surnames.
- Given to both girls and boys, so a family can settle on it before knowing which is coming.
- In the US this spelling now goes mostly to girls, with a steady minority of boys. A boy named Quinn will not be unusual, but he may meet more girls with his name than boys — worth knowing rather than worrying about.
- Quinn is one of the most common Irish surnames in America, so it can read as a last name first, particularly on forms and rosters. Families with an Irish surname of their own may find the combination sounds like two surnames.
- It reaches children by two roads: the Irish surname, and as a short form of Quinton, Quintin or Quinlan. Some people will assume the longer name is hiding somewhere and ask for it.
- The wave behind it is recent and now easing back slightly, so Quinn reads as a name of this generation rather than a revival — clear and current, without being on every classroom list.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Quinn
Masculine · #466 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Quinns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 35,500 people named Quinn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Quinn in 2025?
- Quinn ranks #466 among US boy names in 2025, with 663 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Quinn?
- About 1 in every 2,576 US boys born in 2025 was named Quinn — 663 in all.
- Will my child share the name Quinn with classmates?
- Quinn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Quinn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kameron#466 · Ayaan#465 · Fabian#468 · Soren#464 · Mack#463 · Alijah#469 · Musa#469 · Lucian#462
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Quinn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Quinn and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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