Owen Name Meaning

Owen is a modern version of the Welsh Owain, a form of Eugene. He’s a name that’s been making heads turn in recent years, climbing the charts considerably thanks to his on-trend feel and easy spelling. He also has a fabulous meaning of “noble born.”

In addition to being a first name, Owen is also a surname, a trend that has been rushing the baby name scene in recent years with the rise of Brooks, Carter, and Cooper. He’s also an O name, keeping Oliver and Otto company on the charts. Vowel names are always an unexpected choice in a name and have their own mystery and appeal.

Owen is an adventurous name, fit for a little boy first discovering the wilds of forest or playing make believe in his backyard. He’s also distinguished enough to last into adulthood, earning a seat at the decision table without distraction of cutesy vibes. He’s mature yet playful, allowing his wearer to dip between industries and crowds alike. An Owen can be anything from an astronaut to a painter without a fuss. He is unlimited in his potential and ready to show the world what he has to offer.

Names similar to Owen are Logan, Liam, and Ian.

Infographic of Owen name meaning, which is A Welsh name derived from Eugene, Owen means noble born.
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Owen Name Popularity

How popular is the name Owen? Here’s everything we know.

Year Rank # Births % Births
1910 227 67 0.019%
1911 217 91 0.0244%
1912 211 223 0.0442%
1913 225 241 0.0425%
1914 216 328 0.0471%
1915 218 440 0.0484%
1916 218 463 0.0479%
1917 224 455 0.0455%
1918 212 563 0.0525%
1919 221 518 0.0495%
1920 217 564 0.0507%
1921 193 683 0.0596%
1922 204 607 0.0545%
1923 216 564 0.0504%
1924 212 611 0.0526%
1925 222 566 0.0501%
1926 234 534 0.0486%
1927 236 526 0.0475%
1928 248 479 0.0448%
1929 238 487 0.047%
1930 247 471 0.0451%
1931 251 420 0.0426%
1932 251 430 0.0435%
1933 249 396 0.0425%
1934 258 400 0.0414%
1935 268 366 0.0377%
1936 272 352 0.0365%
1937 265 378 0.0384%
1938 277 357 0.0349%
1939 284 337 0.0331%
1940 294 321 0.0302%
1941 289 361 0.0321%
1942 301 370 0.0293%
1943 305 374 0.0286%
1944 301 359 0.029%
1945 310 330 0.0271%
1946 324 359 0.0243%
1947 343 358 0.0214%
1948 340 351 0.022%
1949 354 325 0.0202%
1950 346 341 0.0212%
1951 355 333 0.0196%
1952 324 419 0.024%
1953 337 378 0.0214%
1954 358 361 0.0197%
1955 396 292 0.0159%
1956 381 341 0.0181%
1957 389 348 0.0181%
1958 415 325 0.0172%
1959 402 346 0.0182%
1960 407 337 0.0178%
1961 429 302 0.016%
1962 433 300 0.0163%
1963 508 208 0.0116%
1964 466 244 0.0139%
1965 490 206 0.0126%
1966 483 205 0.0131%
1967 516 164 0.0108%
1968 529 154 0.0103%
1969 475 220 0.0143%
1970 527 186 0.0117%
1971 518 201 0.0134%
1972 451 262 0.0192%
1973 431 285 0.022%
1974 435 287 0.0221%
1975 490 225 0.0175%
1976 472 235 0.0182%
1977 457 266 0.0197%
1978 503 211 0.0157%
1979 427 309 0.0219%
1980 450 302 0.0207%
1981 429 331 0.0225%
1982 433 332 0.0222%
1983 431 322 0.0218%
1984 424 342 0.023%
1985 421 368 0.0242%
1986 431 356 0.0236%
1987 399 433 0.0284%
1988 418 423 0.0271%
1989 453 397 0.0246%
1990 448 447 0.027%
1991 464 409 0.0251%
1992 481 397 0.0249%
1993 465 414 0.0266%
1994 453 443 0.0289%
1995 352 652 0.0433%
1996 279 970 0.0648%
1997 224 1,352 0.0914%
1998 179 1,857 0.1241%
1999 152 2,367 0.1581%
2000 143 2,711 0.1775%
2001 130 3,031 0.2012%
2002 94 4,188 0.2795%
2003 72 5,696 0.3744%
2004 67 6,706 0.44%
2005 60 7,167 0.4688%
2006 58 8,170 0.5218%
2007 56 8,246 0.5226%
2008 58 7,795 0.5043%
2009 51 8,139 0.5445%
2010 47 8,174 0.5672%
2011 44 8,329 0.5846%
2012 38 8,689 0.6098%
2013 38 8,755 0.6149%
2014 36 9,143 0.6275%
2015 36 9,587 0.6589%
2016 23 10,282 0.7131%
2017 28 9,312 0.6672%
2018 25 9,288 0.676%
2019 21 9,302 0.6871%
2020 23 8,371 0.6577%
2021 22 8,713 0.7128%
2022 18 8,324 0.631%

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Data via SSA.gov.


Names Like Owen

If you like Owen, you’ll love these other names like Owen.


What names are diminutives of Owen?

A diminutive is a name that’s like Owen sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Owen, but shorter.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Wynn

Friend

English


What names are variants of Owen?

Mix it up with these names that are a variation of the name Owen.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Euan

Born of yew; youth

Scottish

Euen

God is gracious; born of yew; youth

Welsh

Ewan

Born of yew; youth; God is gracious; born of yew; youth

Welsh

Ewen

Irish

Ewin

Law-friend

English

Iwan

God is gracious

Slavic

Owain

Born of yew; youth

Scottish

Owens

Born of yew; youth

Scottish

Owin

Born of yew; youth

Scottish

Owney

Green

Irish

Owynn

Born of yew; youth

Scottish


What names sound like Owen?

If you like how Owen sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Owen.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Bowen

Son of Owen; son of the young one

Welsh

Edwin

Wealthy friend

English

Ethan

Enduring and strong

Hebrew

Evan

God is gracious

Welsh

Ian

God is gracious

Scottish

Owain

Born of yew; youth

Scottish

Ronan

Little seal

Irish

Rowan

Of the rowan tree

Gaelic


What names are similar to Owen?

Find a name that’s like Owen, but just a little bit different.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Benjamin

A favorite son

Hebrew

Conner

Dog lover

Irish

Cooper

Barrel maker

English

Dylan

Great tide

Welsh

Griffin

Strong in faith

Welsh

Henry

Home ruler

English

Liam

Helmet of will

Irish

Oliver

Olive tree

English

Wesley

Western meadow

English

Wyatt

Brave in battle

English


Lists With Owen

Find inspiration in these baby boy name lists featuring the name Owen.


Siblings of Owen

Mamas with kids named Owen also have kids with these names.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Norah

Honorable one

Latin

Annalise

Created name

German

Samuel

Name of God

Hebrew

Julien

Jove's child

Greek

Margaret

Pearl

English

Josie

God will increase

English

Mason

Stoneworker

English

Emmett

Universal

English

20 Comments

  1. Like the name; sweet and strong. Baby of 4

  2. Good strong name meaning noble, well born and pleasant to look upon. Sweet for a young boy but Also strong name to grow into

  3. Took us a whole week after our baby was born to finally decide on Owen. We like unique but familiar names and this fit with his older siblings Riley and Hudson. He has red hair and we feel like Owen is a cute redhead name 🙂

  4. I got the name from Owen Hunt on Grey’s Anatomy. I don’t dislike anything about it, if I did I wouldn’t have named my child Owen. Lol

  5. We still hadn’t decided on a name by the time Owen was born! He’s our firstborn, and we really struggled to feel like any name was “the one” until we spent a little bit of time with him earthside. He just really felt like an Owen to us. Funnily enough, I had a relatively easy labor — so the meaning “well-born” is fitting (I realize well-born pertains more to status than literally being well-born but anyway…)!

  6. Owen is number 5 for us, we don’t find out what we are having so always choose a boy and girl name. We like common, but not overused/popular names.

  7. My name is Olivia and my husband is Oliver, and we have the same initials so we wanted an O name and a W middle name. It came down to Oscar or Owen, I liked Owen an Inch better. His middle name is William same as his Daddy.

  8. Our first son is Otis, I really like Owen & Otis as a name combo. Not too similar though.

  9. We don’t know anyone else named Owen. It seems rare right now with names.
    We love that Owen is a strong name with strong roots

  10. Welsh orgin meaning young warrior, noble, or well born

  11. Not too popular and good for multiple ages

  12. Named after my husband’s grandpa. A classic name that sounds good at any age!

  13. my boyfriend picked the name and I loved it

  14. We chose the name Owen for its meaning – strong warrior.

  15. We just liked the name, and we don’t know anyone else with the name. It was an easy choice for us. Plus it means “Warrior”, and I liked the strength in that.

  16. We have a 5 year old Julien (was 4 during pregnancy). I had lost 2 pregnancies prior to Owen and we had been brainstorming names for almost a year it had seemed. We wanted the name to be a family decision including our 4 year old. We also wanted the name to go good with his name Julien. So julien decided on the name Owen. We had Roland and Nolan picked out as well. Our 4 year old had insisted on naming the baby Owen. So we got so used to him calling the baby Owen that we grew to love it. So now we have Owen Myles Vongsayarath.

  17. I’ve always liked the name Owen and remember considering it when I was pregnant with my older son seven years prior. The one drawback was I like names with cute nicknames, which I had trouble coming up with for Owen so I ended up going in a different direction for my older son. When I was 20 weeks pregnant with Owen and went for my mid pregnancy anatomy scan, the doctors found a cyst on his brain (which ended up going away by 23 weeks and is a normal part of brain development but can sometimes be a marker for some scary chromosomal abnormalities if seen in conjunction with other markers.). Anyway, I had to go in for an extra ultrasound and saw that it had resolved quite quickly, however it was scary nonetheless as I never had anything like this happen in my first two pregnancies. I remember praying about it a lot, and heard God tell me “Owen is going to be just fine.” Which was ironic because I had forgotten about the name Owen and had almost settled on another name that just didn’t feel 100% right. So as soon as I had this moment with God, I knew his name had to be Owen! And he was born 100% healthy and perfect!

    • I call my Owen Owie sometimes.

  18. We have given our baby names to God, as we know he knows our babies, and has a name and plan for each child.

  19. Owen was my father’s middle name. He passed away when I was really young, maybe 5 or 6. For his middle name we took my father-in-law’s middle name, Bruce. So our son’s name is Owen Bruce, which is both middle names from his grandfathers.


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