A baby’s name is among the most important decisions parents make. There are, relatedly, countless tools available to help parents in making the decision. Some important name considerations are the ethnic background of the name, whether it fits with the last name of the parents and the meaning of the name in other languages.
Another important consideration is the genderedness of the name. According to data from the Social Security Administration, there are over 1,000 names that have been given to male and female babies born in New York state since 1950. That is more than 7% of the roughly 15,000 popular names in the SSA data for New York.
Of all of these names, few have had as much fluctuation as the name Morgan. What was once an entirely male name in the 1950s and 60s became almost entirely female in the 90s and 2000s. In 2024, the most recent year for which data is available, the name reached its lowest female percentage since 1982 at only 68% female.
To better understand the lived experiences of people with the name Morgan, I designed a survey and sent it to Morgans listed in the Columbia University Directory.
Of the respondents, some, like Morgan Walker (born 2005) or Morgan Gilbard (1992), were named after celebrities like Morgan Freeman and Morgan Fairchild. Others, like Morgan Chow (2005) were given the name for the meaning of its historical Welsh version, “Morcant”, which is understood to mean protector of the sea.
11 of the 12 respondents reported having met other people named Morgan in their life. Of those who had met other Morgans, all reported having met more female people named Morgan than male Morgans (mostly between 80-100% female).
8 of the respondents themselves were female, while 4 were male.
While Morgan has spent the last 40 years as a majority female name, the recent dip might be a sign that it is returning to its roots as a predominantly-male name.