# Quinlan (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/quinlan/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Irish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Irish |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 10,302 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,469 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 29,969 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.6% (9,945 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Irish Ó Caoinleáin, a reduced form of Ó Caoindealbháin (literally “descendant of Caoindealbhán”), a personal name from caoin (“delicate, refined”) + dealbh (“shape”) + -án. Also a shortened Anglicized form of Ó Conalláin (“descendant of Conallán”), a personal name representing a diminutive of Conall (compare Connell).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Quinlan in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 93% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Quinlan in the United States and Ireland.

## People named Quinlan

- Kathleen Quinlan, American actress
- Maeve Quinlan, American actress
- Karen Ann Quinlan, American medical case (1954–1985)

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.