How rare is the name Cullen?

13,202 people in the United States have the first name Cullen, about 1 in 22,878. It ranks #2,059 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

CULLEN

#2,059

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
13,202
About
1 in 22,878
This common or more
78.3%
Who bears it

Of the 13,202 people named Cullen, 85.8% reported their origin as White, 4.7% as two or more races and 3.9% as Black. 98.7% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Cullen peaked in 2010, when 685 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
2010
Births that year
685
In 2025*
200 ▼71%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 16,703 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Cullen by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2010s, when it ranked #1,130. The largest share of babies named Cullen, 36.7%, were born between 1997 and 2012, as Generation Z.

1880s#2,27720
1890s#2,64229
1900s#3,08033
1910s#2,366243
1920s#2,627308
1930s#2,883226
1940s#3,121231
1950s#3,519250
1960s#3,354323
1970s#2,496657
1980s#1,9681,203
1990s#1,2533,246
2000s#1,4493,251
2010s#1,1305,105
2020s#1,8551,578
Before 19010.3%
Greatest Generation 1901–273.2%
Silent Generation 1928–452.5%
Baby boom 1946–643%
Generation X 1965–805.5%
Millennials 1981–9619.2%
Generation Z 1997–1236.7%
2013 and later29.6%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Cullen is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Cullen has been most common in Louisiana (3.7×), Minnesota (3.2×), and Virginia (1.9×), and least common in West Virginia (0.29×).

12,500 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Cullen

#2,057 Miracle · 13,205#2,058 Justina · 13,204#2,060 Madelynn · 13,187#2,061 Alden · 13,184

Spelled almost the same

2 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Cullen, most common first.

#23,767 Cullin · 410#25,763 Cullan · 366

Also a last name

As a last name, Cullen ranks #1,790 of 156,621, with 19,574 people. See Cullen as a last name

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