Meaning & origin
What it means
As an Irish surname, Gean goes back to a word meaning “fettered.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
As an Irish surname, it goes back to a word meaning “fettered”.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1910. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Gean through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,234
- 564 boys · 670 girls
- Most popular year
- 1932
- 48 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #12,660 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 12,660 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for boys was 22 in 1932. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,172 as a first name in 2020; 932 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Gean’s family of names
The ring: across languages.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
Similar names
If you love Gean, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Merlyn
Merlyn is a variant of Merlin. One Welsh interpretation is “of the sea fortress; in Arthurian legend, the wizard and mentor of King Arthur.”
31% boys · 69% girls
Arlyn
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24% boys · 76% girls
Garnet
“resembling the dark-red gem”
33% boys · 67% girls
Joan
“God is gracious”
56% boys · 44% girls
Maxie
“the greatest”
22% boys · 78% girls
Merrill
“of the shining sea”
51% boys · 49% girls
Marvel
“an extraordinary woman” · “an extraordinary man”
48% boys · 52% girls
Bennie
“son of the south; son of the right hand” · “son of the right hand”
68% boys · 32% girls