Flannery
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Meaning
meaning debated, often glossed 'red eyebrow' (from Ó Flannabhra); famously borne by Flannery O'Connor, celebrated Southern Gothic writer
The story
Flannery began as an Irish surname, from Ó Flannabhra, a name whose exact sense is debated but often glossed as red eyebrow. It might have stayed on the surname side of the ledger forever if not for Flannery O'Connor. Born Mary Flannery O'Connor in Savannah, Georgia, she dropped the Mary for her writing life and produced some of the fiercest fiction in American letters: Wise Blood, A Good Man Is Hard to Find, stories where grace arrives by violence and nobody is spared, much of it written on her family farm among the peacocks she raised. Her reputation has only grown since her death in 1964, and the name has followed: Flannery first crept into US records in the 2010s and remains vanishingly rare, a bookish, briskly Irish choice that signals its allegiances instantly.
How popular is Flannery around the world?
In the United States, 47 babies were named Flannery between 2020 and 2025.
Flannery is on the official records of the United States.
United States
1 in 460,000
In the United States, 47 babies were named Flannery between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Flannery has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, England and Wales, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Flannery
Most people given the name Flannery in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Flannery deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Flannery 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 Flannery fits with your family’s names and surname.
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