Humanverse

Megan vs Meghaan

American parents have registered 441,169 Megans since 1880, against 36 Meghaans. Megan is still ahead, with 301 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Megan against Meghaan, 1880 to 2025 0 6k 12k 18k 24k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Megan Meghaan

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Megan has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1922 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1984, when Megan had 17,034 and Meghaan had 36.

Side by side

  Megan Meghaan
Total US births 441,16936
Most in one year 20,30336
Babies in 2025 301under 5
Estimated living today 429,00040
Median age today 3441
Peak year 19901984
Best rank 11th girls2,574th girls
Rank in 2025 887thunranked
First recorded 19221984
Girls / boys 440,065 / 1,10436 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Meghaans alive today are over 41; half the Megans are over 34. That is 7 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Megan and Meghaan.