ESC Name Rank Total Searching... No names found Try searching for: Emma, Liam, Olivia, Noah... 1915 First Year 2026 Last Year 2021 Peak Year #3137 Peak Rank 688 Total Count 50 Years Active 🌍 ## Meaning & Origin of Owen What this name means, where it came from, and how it has traveled across cultures. Owen is usually an anglicised variant of the Welsh personal name Owain. Originally a patronymic, Owen became a fixed surname in Wales beginning with the reign of Henry VIII. Etymologists consider it to originate from Eugene, meaning 'noble-born'. According to T. J. Morgan and Prys Morgan in Welsh Surnames: "the name is a derivation of the Latin Eugenis > OW Ou\[u\]ein, Eug\[u\]ein ... Source: [Wikipedia ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen%5F%28name%29) (CC BY-SA 3.0). [Read more → ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen%5F%28name%29) ### Cultural Origins (via Behind the Name) * Welsh * English * Irish 📖 ## The Story of Owen Owen first appeared in U.S. Social Security Administration records as a baby boy name in 1880, with 78 babies given the name that year. The name hit its high-water mark in 2016: 10,302 births, good for #24 nationwide. About 36% of every Owen on record arrived during the 2010s, its defining decade. As of 2026, Owen ranks #27 for baby boys with 7,455 births, gradually falling (-14%). All told, over 253K Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 1880s to the 2020s. ## Popularity Over Time ## Popularity by State ME WA MT ND MN WI MI NY VT NH MA OR ID SD IA IL IN OH PA NJ CT RI CA NV WY NE MO KY WV VA MD DE DC UT CO KS AR TN NC SC AK AZ NM OK LA MS AL GA HI TX FL Top 10 11-50 51-100 101-500 500+ No data 🔗 ## Variants & Related Forms of Owen Foreign forms, alternate spellings, and nicknames that share roots with Owen. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name. * [Owain](/owain) * [Eoghan](/eoghan) 🎶 ## Names that sound like Owen Phonetically similar names — useful when Owen is the vibe but a different syllable count or letter feel might suit better. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name. * [Owin](/owin) * [Ion](/ion) * [Ian](/ian) * [Eon](/eon) * [Ien](/ien) * [Ayan](/ayan) * [Aion](/aion) * Ijn * Ehen * Oyan * Auen * Owing Source: [Datamuse ](https://www.datamuse.com/api/). Phonetic similarity ranking, not curated. ❓ ## Frequently Asked Questions about Owen What does the name Owen mean? Owen is usually an anglicised variant of the Welsh personal name Owain. Originally a patronymic, Owen became a fixed surname in Wales beginning with the reign of Henry VIII. Etymologists consider it to originate from Eugene, meaning 'noble-born'. According to T. J. Morgan and Prys Morgan in Welsh Surnames: "the name is a derivation of the Latin Eugenis > OW Ou\[u\]ein, Eug\[u\]ein ... What is the origin of the name Owen? Owen has roots in the following cultural and linguistic traditions: Welsh, English, Irish. How popular is Owen in 2026? In 2026, Owen ranks #27 among boys' names in the U.S., with 7,455 babies given the name that year. When was Owen most popular? Owen reached its peak popularity in 2016, ranking #18 that year with 10,302 babies given the name. In which U.S. states is Owen most popular? Owen has historically been most popular in Maine, Vermont, Iowa. Rankings vary year to year, but these states show the strongest concentration of births named Owen. Is Owen a unisex name? In U.S. Social Security records, Owen is primarily a boy's name. We don't have meaningful data for it as a girl's name. What names go well with Owen? Names that share a similar style or popularity range with Owen include Louis, Roy, Leo. These pairings are based on rank proximity and naming era in U.S. data. What are nicknames or variants of Owen? Common variants and related forms of Owen include Owain, Eoghan. These cover foreign-language equivalents, alternate spellings, and short forms. ## Similar Names [👧VicyPeak #3137](/vicy)[👧OneyPeak #3137](/oney)[👧NarcissaPeak #3137](/narcissa)[👧CastellaPeak #3137](/castella)[👧MignonnePeak #3137](/mignonne)[👧LevetaPeak #3137](/leveta)[👧VoiletPeak #3137](/voilet)[👧AnnalouPeak #3137](/annalou) ## About the name Owen Owen is a boy baby name tracked by the U.S. Social Security Administration. It first appeared in SSA records in 1880 and has accumulated 253K births in the dataset. Owen's peak popularity came in 2016 when it ranked #18\. Use the chart and map above to compare Owen's trajectory across years and U.S. states, or browse the related names section to discover similar choices. ### Continue exploring * [ Top names of 2016 → ](/year/2016) * [ Names of the 2010s → ](/decade/2010s) * [ Names starting with "O" → ](/letter/o) * [ Browse all boy names → ](/names/boys) * [ Top names of 2026 → ](/year/2026) Data sources * Birth statistics (counts, ranks, years 1880–2026) — U.S. [Social Security Administration ](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/). Predictions for years not yet released by SSA are computed by Peek a Name from historical trends; we update with official data as soon as it ships. * Etymology, cultural origins, and related forms — [Behind the Name ](https://www.behindthename.com/) (used under their public API terms). * Meaning prose and editorial summary — [Wikipedia ](https://en.wikipedia.org/) article extracts, licensed under [CC BY-SA 3.0 ](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). * Predicted nationality distribution — [Nationalize.io ](https://nationalize.io/). * Phonetically similar names — [Datamuse ](https://www.datamuse.com/api/). Peek a Name aggregates and presents the above data for informational purposes. Statistical predictions and external attributions are clearly labelled where shown; we make no guarantee of accuracy beyond what each source provides.