Higgins

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Higgins, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Island
• Dallas
• Ireland
• Green
• George
• Austin
• Brandon
• Day
• Brooklyn
• Irish
• America
• Hamilton

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Higgins is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Higgiñs

• Polish surname16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Polish, Russian, Czech

  Also written Хиггинс, Хіггінс, Хигинс, Hïggïńš

• Hindi surname4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu, Sinhala

62 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Higgins is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, O hUigin, from uigin ‘knowledge’; ancient Westmeath sept later in Co. Sligo

  as a name·Irish family names

• In English, diminutive of Higg, a voiced form of Hick; first attested Hygyn de Bowland 1379 PTY

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• Anglicized form of Gaelic 6 hUiginn ‘descendant of Uiginn', a byname meaning ‘viking’, ‘searover’ (from Old Norse vikingr).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• patronymic from the medieval personal name Higgin, a pet form of Hick.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, A surname from Irish, from County Sligo.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Michael Higginsb. 1920USAmerican actor (1920-2008)
• Marguerite Higginsb. 1920USAmerican journalist (1920–1966)
• Mary Higgins Clarkb. 1927USAmerican author of suspense novels (1927–2020)
• Jack Higginsb. 1929GBBritish novelist (1929–2022)
• Michael D. Higginsb. 1941IEPresident of Ireland (2011–2018; 2018–2025)
• Colin Higginsb. 1941USAmerican film director and screenwriter, born in New Caledonia
• Clare Higginsb. 1955GBBritish actress
• Brian Higginsb. 1959USU.S. Representative from New York
• John Michael Higginsb. 1963USAmerican actor and comedian
• Kate Higginsb. 1969USAmerican voice actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name Higgins mean, and where does it come from?

(i) ‘son of Higgen’, a medieval male personal name meaning ‘little Hick’; (ii) from Irish Gaelic O hUiginn or O hAodhagdin, nicknames meaning ‘Viking’ and ‘little little fire’ Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

What are other forms of the name Higgins?

In the etymology graph, Higgens, Higgin and Higgans are forms of the same name in other languages.

How do you pronounce Higgins?

A machine transcription gives /hɪɡɪnz/ (IPA) for English.

In which country does Higgins have the most bearers?

In the United States, the national register counted about 80 thousand people named Higgins, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled higgins.

How common is the name Higgins?

In the United States, the national register counted 79,803 people named Higgins in 2010, about 1 in 4.2 thousand residents.

How common is Higgins compared with other names?

In the United States, Higgins is the 339th most common surname of 6,282,806 surnames recorded there.