Meg
Meg was last recorded in 2022, when 6 babies were given it; 5,321 Americans have been recorded with it between 1941 and 2022 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,860 Americans named Meg and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 49 years old and half are between 27 and 63.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Meg by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Meg mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Meg is “a diminutive of the female given names Margaret and Megan.”
/mɛɡ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Meg?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,715, in 2022; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
196 babies in 1959, the peak
Meg peaked in 1959, when 196 girls were given it, #715 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6 | #14,715 | 3.7 |
| 2021 | 15 | #7,519 | 9.1 |
| 2020 | 11 | #9,334 | 6.8 |
| 2019 | 10 | #10,224 | 6.0 |
| 2018 | 18 | #6,697 | 10.6 |
| 2017 | 7 | #13,623 | 4.1 |
| 2016 | 19 | #6,589 | 10.7 |
| 2015 | 20 | #6,384 | 11.2 |
| 2014 | 14 | #8,349 | 7.8 |
| 2013 | 24 | #5,601 | 13.7 |
Every recorded year (81)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 27 | #5,198 | 15.3 |
| 2011 | 30 | #4,774 | 17.1 |
| 2010 | 52 | #3,188 | 29.3 |
| 2009 | 50 | #3,337 | 27.2 |
| 2008 | 53 | #3,199 | 28.0 |
| 2007 | 64 | #2,845 | 33.3 |
| 2006 | 65 | #2,748 | 34.2 |
| 2005 | 100 | #1,930 | 54.1 |
| 2004 | 88 | #2,081 | 47.9 |
| 2003 | 129 | #1,516 | 70.6 |
| 2002 | 109 | #1,689 | 60.7 |
| 2001 | 111 | #1,644 | 61.6 |
| 2000 | 109 | #1,625 | 60.0 |
| 1999 | 99 | #1,673 | 55.8 |
| 1998 | 92 | #1,727 | 52.1 |
| 1997 | 90 | #1,726 | 51.7 |
| 1996 | 102 | #1,559 | 58.2 |
| 1995 | 107 | #1,486 | 60.8 |
| 1994 | 82 | #1,774 | 45.9 |
| 1993 | 61 | #2,183 | 33.7 |
| 1992 | 79 | #1,819 | 42.8 |
| 1991 | 55 | #2,333 | 29.3 |
| 1990 | 79 | #1,817 | 41.6 |
| 1989 | 51 | #2,322 | 27.7 |
| 1988 | 52 | #2,199 | 29.2 |
| 1987 | 32 | #3,004 | 18.4 |
| 1986 | 16 | #4,880 | 9.3 |
| 1985 | 37 | #2,632 | 21.5 |
| 1984 | 33 | #2,763 | 19.6 |
| 1983 | 33 | #2,706 | 19.8 |
| 1982 | 34 | #2,742 | 20.1 |
| 1981 | 49 | #2,104 | 29.4 |
| 1980 | 52 | #2,035 | 31.3 |
| 1979 | 69 | #1,637 | 43.0 |
| 1978 | 36 | #2,455 | 23.5 |
| 1977 | 41 | #2,240 | 26.7 |
| 1976 | 44 | #2,018 | 30.0 |
| 1975 | 63 | #1,582 | 43.2 |
| 1974 | 85 | #1,274 | 57.9 |
| 1973 | 61 | #1,535 | 41.8 |
| 1972 | 92 | #1,177 | 60.5 |
| 1971 | 80 | #1,342 | 48.1 |
| 1970 | 87 | #1,268 | 49.8 |
| 1969 | 96 | #1,137 | 56.9 |
| 1968 | 83 | #1,193 | 50.6 |
| 1967 | 81 | #1,186 | 49.1 |
| 1966 | 106 | #995 | 62.6 |
| 1965 | 120 | #930 | 68.0 |
| 1964 | 161 | #827 | 85.0 |
| 1963 | 179 | #774 | 92.9 |
| 1962 | 184 | #766 | 93.6 |
| 1961 | 154 | #861 | 76.3 |
| 1960 | 179 | #764 | 88.5 |
| 1959 | 196 | #715 | 96.9 |
| 1958 | 125 | #922 | 62.1 |
| 1957 | 129 | #899 | 63.1 |
| 1956 | 110 | #963 | 54.8 |
| 1955 | 75 | #1,153 | 38.4 |
| 1954 | 56 | #1,337 | 28.8 |
| 1953 | 53 | #1,340 | 28.2 |
| 1952 | 47 | #1,425 | 25.3 |
| 1951 | 40 | #1,495 | 22.2 |
| 1950 | 26 | #1,893 | 15.2 |
| 1949 | 21 | #2,190 | 12.3 |
| 1948 | 16 | #2,567 | 9.4 |
| 1947 | 15 | #2,725 | 8.5 |
| 1946 | 8 | #3,877 | 5.1 |
| 1945 | 12 | #2,695 | 9.2 |
| 1944 | 11 | #2,891 | 8.3 |
| 1942 | 9 | #3,348 | 6.7 |
| 1941 | 5 | #4,843 | 4.1 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Meg a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Meg has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 81 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Meg: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Meg, and how old are they?
4,860 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 5,321 Americans ever recorded as Meg. The median Meg alive today is 49 years old; half are between 27 and 63.
The 2020 Census counted 7,331 people named Meg (7,239 women and girls, 92 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 4,966 born in the U.S. The Census count is 48% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Meg rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 20 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,460 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,100 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 879 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,250 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 143 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Meg born?
The states with the most babies named Meg are New York, California and Pennsylvania, with 43% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 421 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| California | 312 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 268 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 217 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 186 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Utah | 121 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| New Jersey | 118 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Massachusetts | 101 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 89 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Michigan | 88 | not ranked | 0.4× |
Where Meg is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Meg is most over-represented in Utah: since 1941 it was given 2.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Meg with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Meg
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Meg and names like it
- Compare Meg and JaniBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sMeg peaked in 1959.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Meg since 1910.
- The top names of 1959The year the most babies were named Meg.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Meg alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with MMost given first.