Megan

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Girl · Greek, through Welsh

Megan

Say it: MEG-an

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Welsh pet form of Marged (Margaret), from Greek margaritēs 'pearl'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Spread beyond Wales in the 20th century and became very popular in the United States and Britain in the 1980s and 1990s.

Its wave through time

A fashion of the 1980s

In the United States

05101518801900192019401960198020002020Peak 1985per 1,000 babies of that sex
  • 439,175 babies given this name since 1922
  • At its height in 1985, about 1 in 86 girls
  • 451 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
  2. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

WelshEnglishAmerican

The family of the name

Other spellings: Meghan, Meagan

WelshMarged

Famous bearers

  • Megan Lloyd George, first woman MP for a Welsh seat
  • Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
  • National birth statistics of European countries source
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.