Finn
Meaning
fair, white
The story
Finn is the anglicized Fionn, fair or bright, the name of the great hero of Irish legend, Fionn mac Cumhaill, who gained all the world's knowledge from a salmon. America knew it for a century almost only as Huckleberry's surname: the given name never passed 100 babies a decade before the 1990s. Then it arrived all at once, about 400 in the 1990s, 5,000 in the 2000s, 17,800 in the 2010s, 11,900 so far this decade. No single hero did that; screens large and small have offered a steady parade of Finns, and the name's one-syllable snap fits the modern taste that also lifted Jack and Max. It is a boys' name in our records, about 35,000 to 430. The legend hedges nothing: the fair one, the boy who tasted the salmon first.
The formal names behind Finn
Finn is an established short form of each of these names.
Finnegan · Irish origin · Irish surname meaning 'descendant of Fionnagán', from 'fionn' (fair, white)
Finley · Scottish origin · fair-haired hero
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Finn peaked in the 2020s.
When you meet Finn
Most people given the name Finn in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Finn deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Finn truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Finn fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Finn travels
Irish American · a beloved name honoring the legendary hero Fionn mac Cumhaill
Keep exploring
Names like Finn · Middle names for Finn · German baby names · Irish American baby names · Warrior names · Short names
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