Boy · Irish · International
Callahan
CallahanSay it KAL-uh-han
- Meaning today
- Bright-headed, strife
- Original meaning
- "descendant of Ceallachán, from Ceallach, "war, strife"" Patrick Woulfe
- Say it
- KAL-uh-han
- Other spellings
- Callaghan
Callahan
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Callahan meaning
Callahan is an international boy's name of Irish origin.
Meaning today
Bright-headed, strife
Original Irish meaning
"descendant of Ceallachán, from Ceallach, "war, strife""
Source: Patrick Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames (1923) · entry Ó Ceallacháin · See the entry · checked 27 Oct 2026
Callahan is an English spelling of the Irish surname Ó Ceallacháin, "descendant of Ceallachán". Patrick Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames explains Ceallachán as a diminutive of Ceallach, an old and once very common Irish name meaning "war" or "strife", borne by several saints. The family claimed descent from Ceallachán, a tenth-century king of Munster; they were chiefs in south Cork and later held lands on the Blackwater west of Mallow. Name lists often give "bright-headed", which we could not find in Woulfe, so it appears to be a later reading. It is said KAL-uh-han, and the short form Cal is easy to say.
References: Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames, Ó Ceallacháin (Library Ireland) · Woulfe, Ceallach (Library Ireland) · Woulfe, Ceallachán (Library Ireland)
Popularity abroad
- #227 United States, boys 2025 (up 137 from 364 in 2024)
US Social Security Administration
Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.
Spellings
Callahan · Callaghan