Meaghan

About Meaghan

Meaghan is a spelling of Megan, the Welsh name connected to Margaret and its meaning “pearl.” The extra letters give it a visibly different shape from Megan while usually keeping the same two-syllable pronunciation. Canadian diving and contemporary memoir provide two particularly clear cultural connections to this exact spelling.

Meaning and name family

Megan began as a Welsh affectionate form of Margaret and became a given name in its own right. Margaret reaches back through Latin Margarita to Greek margarites, “pearl.” Meaghan belongs to that larger family, alongside Meghan and Meagan.

The spelling reflects the influence of Irish-looking combinations of letters on an originally Welsh name. Its ea and gh make it longer on the page than Megan. The underlying name remains Megan; the altered spelling does not give Meaghan a separate ancient Irish meaning.

Meg is an established short form. Margaret is the older full name behind the family, while Marguerite and Margarita are more distant relatives with different sounds. Meaghan keeps the compact rhythm that helped Megan and its variants become independent names.

An Olympic bearer

Canadian diver Meaghan Benfeito won three Olympic bronze medals. She and Roseline Filion reached the podium in the synchronized 10-metre platform event at London 2012, then repeated that result at Rio 2016. At the Rio Games Benfeito also won bronze in the individual 10-metre platform event.

Her career therefore connects the name with both partnership and solo competition within the same sport. Benfeito also won gold in both individual and synchronized platform diving at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. These results make her a substantial sporting namesake, with achievements across several international competitions rather than a single celebrated appearance.

A literary connection

Writer Meaghan O'Connell is the author of And Now We Have Everything, published in 2018. The memoir follows her experience of an unplanned pregnancy and the transition into motherhood before she felt prepared for it.

Its subjects include changing identity, the physical and emotional aftermath of childbirth, and the pressure to fit idealized accounts of parenting. O'Connell's use of humor and direct personal observation gives the name a contemporary literary association quite different from Benfeito's sporting one.

Pronunciation

Meaghan is commonly MEG-un, with the first syllable stressed. The gh does not add an extra consonant or syllable. Meg makes a straightforward everyday form while retaining the most recognizable part of the full name's sound.

American popularity

Meaghan's largest American annual total was 744 girls in 1986, when it ranked #325. It was still recorded for 722 girls in 1990, but the total fell to 342 in 2000 and 13 in 2020. Its strongest period in this spelling was therefore the late twentieth century. Megan, Meghan, and Meagan each have separate American records and their own popularity histories.

How popular is Meaghan?

In 2025, Meaghan was not listed in the latest American name records. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1955; its largest annual count was 744 in 1986. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.