How popular is the baby name Megan in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Megan.
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On December 24, 2013, Kirsty Lee of Manchester, England, gave birth to a baby girl while being driven to the hospital.
The baby — born on Christmas Eve in the front passenger seat of a Renault Megane — was appropriately named Evie Megan.
Source: Gill, Emma. “Meet the Christmas baby named after the car she was born in.” Manchester Evening News 14 Dec. 2015.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the most popular baby names in England and Wales last year were (again) Amelia and Oliver.
Here are the top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2015:
| Girl Names | Boy Names |
| 1. Amelia, 5,158 baby girls 2. Olivia, 4,853 3. Emily, 3,893 4. Isla, 3,474 5. Ava, 3,414 6. Ella, 3,028 7. Jessica, 2,937 8. Isabella, 2,876 9. Mia, 2,842 10. Poppy, 2,816 | 1. Oliver, 6,941 baby boys 2. Jack, 5,371 3. Harry, 5,308 4. George, 4,869 5. Jacob, 4,850 6. Charlie, 4,831 7. Noah, 4,148 8. William, 4,083 9. Thomas, 4,075 10. Oscar, 4,066 |
In the girls’ top 10, Ella and Mia replaced Lily (now 13th) and Sophie (now 11th).
In the boys’ top 10, Noah (the top name in the U.S. right now) replaced James (11th).
In the girls’ top 100, Penelope, Mila, Clara, Arabella, Maddison and Aria replaced Lydia (now 103rd), Faith (104th), Mollie (105th), Brooke (107th), Isabel (110th) and Amy (117th).
In the boys’ top 100, Jaxon, Roman, Reggie and Carter replaced Owen (now 101st), Robert (105th), Joey (117th) and Finlay (123rd).
Here are some of last year’s rare baby names, each given to either 3, 4 or 5 babies:
| Rare Girl Names | Rare Boy Names |
| Aarzoo, Autumn-Lily, Boglarka, Comfort, Edna, Enxi, Euphemia, Flourish, Fozia, Gabia, Jupiter, Lady, Lleucu, Llio, Merveille, Nectaria, Pebbles, Peony, Prisca, Purity, Quorra, Reisel, Sloka, Tuba, Venice, Vimbainashe, Ylva | Alffi, Bam, Bright, Crimea, Cuthbert, Efezino, Elimelech, Fyfe, Ghyll, Gryff, James-Dean, Jamesdean, Kushagra, Ignatius, Marmaduke, Math, Mio, Osagie, Otso, Pip, Przemyslaw, Sherlock, Swayley, Ringo, Testimony, Thierno, Zephyrus |
(Crimea is intriguing, isn’t it? It was used as a baby name in the 1850s, during the Crimean War, but this is the first time I’ve seen it on a modern name list.)
And how did Welsh names fare in Wales specifically?
| Welsh Girl Names | Welsh Boy Names |
| Seren (“star”) ranks 17th in Wales Ffion (“foxglove”), 20th Megan, 27th (and 76th overall) Mali, 45th Alys, 66th Carys (“love”), 72nd Efa, 73rd Cadi, 82nd Lili, 85th Lowri, 88th Eira (“snow”), 92nd Ela, 97th (tie) Elin, 97th (tie) | Dylan, ranks 13th in Wales (and 38th overall) Osian, 25th Harri, 27th Jac, 33rd Rhys, 34th Evan, 37th Tomos, 47th Cai, 51st Ioan, 56th Morgan, 67th Elis, 66th Hari, 82nd Gethin (“swarthy”), 88th (tie) Iestyn, 88th (tie) Macsen, 92nd (tie) Owain, 92nd (tie) Ifan, 96th |
Finally, if you’d like to go back another year, here are the England and Wales rankings for 2014.
Source: Baby names in England and Wales: 2015 – ONS
Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)
Here are the results of Pop Culture Baby Name Game 2015!
Quick disclaimer: Some of these names were already on the rise. Others were likely influenced by multiple pop culture events/people (not just the one listed). So I leave it up to you to judge the degree/nature of pop culture influence for yourself.
Adaline, +737 [ranked 11th on the list of raw-number increases for girl names]
Abel, +659 [ranked 12th on the list of raw-number increases for boy names]
Finn, +301 [ranked 47th on the list of raw-number increases for boy names]
Taya, +180
Lucille, +142
Margot, +126
Atticus, +106
Canaan, +104
Hakeem, +87
Annalise, +78
Lola, +57
Arlo, +54
Carter, +53
Carli, +36
Margo, +36
Bjorn, +35
Roland, +32
Taraji, +30
Adonis, +29
Sullivan (as a boy name), +29
Joy, +28
Kylo, +27
Alex (as a girl name), +25
Rebel, +25 (as a girl name), -3 (as a boy name)
Meghan, +24
Lucious, +18
Christie, +15
Tobin (as a girl name), re-entered with 14
Alessia, +13
Lyon, +13
Kelsea, +12
Gigi, +11
Ragnar, +11
Rollo, re-entered with 10
Max (as a girl name), +9
Poe, re-entered with 9
Denali, +8 (as a boy name) and +7 (as a girl name)
Bindi, re-entered with 8
Eilis, re-entered with 6
Trai, re-entered with 6
Becky, +5
Bernie, +5
Saint, +5
Serra, +5
Taron, +4
Names that went down:
Names not on the SSA’s list in 2015:
Did any of these surprise you?
P.S. Some of the names from the 2014 game that have started/continued to do well: Hazel, Amal, Tauriel, and Wyatt (as a girl name). Elsa and Anna, on the other hand, both saw drops in usage.
The ratio of Biblical names to non-Biblical names in the girl’s top 20 is about the same today as it was 100 years ago, though the ratio did change a bit mid-century.
(In contrast, there’s been a steady increase in the number of Biblical-origin names among the top boy names.)
Here’s the color-coded table — Biblical names are in the yellow cells, non-Biblical names are in the green cells, and several borderline names (which I counted as non-Biblical) are in the orange cells:
Again, feels pretty weird to put overtly Christian names like Christina and Christine in the non-Biblical category, but oh well.
Here are the year-by-year tallies:
| Year | Top 20 names given to… | # Biblical | # Non-Biblical |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1914 | 31% of baby girls | 6 (30%) | 14 (70%) |
| 1924 | 31% of baby girls | 7 (35%) | 13 (65%) |
| 1934 | 32% of baby girls | 9 (45%) | 11 (55%) |
| 1944 | 35% of baby girls | 8 (40%) | 12 (60%) |
| 1954 | 34% of baby girls | 9 (45%) | 11 (55%) |
| 1964 | 24% of baby girls | 9 (45%) | 11 (55%) |
| 1974 | 24% of baby girls | 8 (40%) | 12 (60%) |
| 1984 | 26% of baby girls | 6 (30%) | 14 (70%) |
| 1994 | 19% of baby girls | 6 (30%) | 14 (70%) |
| 2004 | 14% of baby girls | 6 (30%) | 14 (70%) |
| 2014 | 12% of baby girls | 5 (25%) | 15 (75%) |
Just like with the boy names, though, there’s a big difference between the 1914 and 2014 sample sizes — 31% and 12%. So let’s also look at the 2014 top 100, which covers 31% of female births.
By my count, last year’s top 100 girl names were about a quarter Biblical, three-quarters non-Biblical:
| Biblical names (27) | Non-Biblical/Borderline names (73) |
|---|---|
| Isabella (via Elizabeth), Mia (via Maria), Abigail, Elizabeth, Chloe, Addison (via Adam), Lillian (via Elizabeth), Hannah, Anna, Leah, Gabriella, Sadie (via Sarah), Sarah, Annabelle, Madelyn (via Magdalene), Lucy (via Lucius), Alexa (via Alexander), Genesis, Naomi, Eva, Lydia, Julia, Khloe, Madeline (via Magdalene), Alexandra, Gianna (via Joanna), Isabelle (via Elizabeth) | Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Ava, Emily, Madison, Charlotte, Harper, Sofia, Avery, Amelia, Evelyn, Ella, Victoria, Aubrey, Grace, Zoey, Natalie, Brooklyn, Lily, Layla, Scarlett, Aria, Zoe, Samantha, Audrey, Ariana, Allison, Savannah, Arianna, Camila, Penelope, Claire, Aaliyah, Riley, Skylar, Nora, Hailey, Kaylee, Paisley, Kennedy, Ellie, Peyton, Caroline, Serenity, Aubree, Alexis, Nevaeh, Stella, Violet, Mackenzie, Bella, Autumn, Mila, Kylie, Maya, Piper, Alyssa, Taylor, Eleanor, Melanie, Faith, Katherine, Brianna, Ashley, Ruby, Sophie, London, Lauren, Alice, Vivian, Hadley, Jasmine |
Faith, Grace, Angela, Nevaeh, Natalie…all technically non-Biblical.
27%-73% is remarkably similar to both 25%-75% (smaller 2014 sample) and 30%-70% (1914 sample).
So here’s the question of the day: If you had to choose all of your children’s names from either one group or the other — Biblical names or non-Biblical names — which group would you stick to, and why?
