Given name & surname
Higgins
“an intelligent man”
Higgins is used as a given name and a surname. One Irish interpretation is “an intelligent man.”
Original IrishÓ hUiginn
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Irish interpretation is “an intelligent man.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Irish.
How it developed
In English usage, Higgins is a diminutive of HICK. In English usage, Higgins as a surname developed from Ó hUiginn.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 2024. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Higgins through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 6
- 6 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2024
- 6 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 6 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 75,781 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.
Higgins’s family of names
In English usage, Higgins is a diminutive of HICK. In English usage, Higgins as a surname developed from the Irish form Ó hUiginn. Higgins has a related form in Higgyns.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 10
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Rigginsvariant · English
- Higgensvariant · English
- Hygynsvariant
- Higynsvariant
- Hyggynsvariant
- Higgynsvariant
- Hyginsvariant
- Higinsvariant
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Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
Similar names
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