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Angus

#2,363 in 2025Boys' name

Possibly one choice

Angus has been given to 6,751 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #2,363 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2006, with 126 recorded.

Babies named Angus, 2025

1 in 57,200

Angus over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Angus: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly one choice

Scottish Gaelic

What Angus means

Angus may mean “one choice”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Aonghas, perhaps literally "one choice".

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Angus (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Angus is used in English, Atayal and Scots. Its origins include Scottish Gaelic.

Angus comes through Scottish Gaelic Aonghas.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Aonghas.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Angus is pronounced /ˈæŋ.ɡəs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,751 boys were recorded with the name Angus between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 126 in 2006; its best national rank was #365 in 1882.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,026 in 2020 to #2,363 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,741 in 2015 to #2,363 in 2025.

How common is Angus?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 57,200
58 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 29,400
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,363
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
39,620 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Angus sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 39,620 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Angus. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Anguss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Angus was born before 1981 — so the typical Angus is around 44 today.

Median birth year
1981
About 44 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
15.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
33.0%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
4,370
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 15.4% of all recorded uses (1,042).

Is Angus rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−227
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−337
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−622
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.66×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
46.0%
Peak was 2006 (126)
Years since peak
19
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#365
1882

Spellings of Angus

Angus is not the most common spelling — Angel is, with 72.4% against Angus's 1.8%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Angus is used

Across 2016–2025, Angus was most concentrated in Maine — about 1 in 8,333 boys, against 1 in 37,491 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in 100,000).

112 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Maine1 in 8,333
  2. 2New Hampshire1 in 9,091
  3. 3Washington1 in 12,500
  4. 4California1 in 25,000
  5. 5Massachusetts1 in 25,000
  6. 6New York1 in 25,000
  7. 7Utah1 in 33,333
  8. 8Colorado1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Angus around the world

Where Angus ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #325
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1974–2025
    #33
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    1997–2025
    #314
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1964–2024
    #785
    in 2024
  • France
    1996–2025
    #4,362
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #706
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1944–2013
    #46
    in 2013
  • New South Wales
    1990–2025
    #75
    in 2025

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada, Consumer and Business Services (South Australia) and NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages. ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA, NSW BDM data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Angus

People whose public names include Angus, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Angus in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Angus. Linked forms have their own page here.

AengusAonghas

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Angus by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,363
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 337
Best rank ever
#365
1882
Peak year
2006
126 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
6,751
Count in 2025
58

Names similar to Angus

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

AngadAngelaAngeloAngelGusAngelloAngelusFergusAngelosArgusAngelitoAngelinoAngieAngleAnguelAengusAngellAngelicaAngelesAngloAngelinaWilgusAugusAngelis

Names with a curve like Angus

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Angus, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

HamiltonDomenicBaxterElieHeberJohnsonPriceConstantineNevinSampsonOrrinJhon

Sibling names for Angus

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Angus

Top names of 2006, Angus's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1882Boys' names starting with AIrish Mythology NamesScottish Boy NamesScottish Names