Glenn
- Pronunciation
- [Glenn]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- From The Valley
- Origin
- Celtic
About the Name Glenn
Glenn is derived from the Scottish and Irish Gaelic word gleann, meaning a narrow valley or mountain glen. The word is of Celtic origin, related to the Welsh glyn, and referred specifically to the deep, often wooded river valleys that characterize the Highland and Lowland Scottish landscape. As a surname it identified families who lived in or near such a valley — a topographic marker common in Celtic place-name tradition. The name crossed into use as a given name in the nineteenth century through the same pattern of surname-to-forename transfer common in Anglo-American naming, and the double-N spelling became the standard given-name form, distinguishing it from the more common single-N surname Glen.
Glenn appears in the US Social Security top-1000 from 1901 and reached its best rank of #55 in 1962, accumulating over 209,000 top-1000 births — one of the larger totals in this group, reflecting genuine widespread popularity. Among its notable bearers are actress Glenn Close (born 1947), whose career has included eight Academy Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Also included is television host Glenn Beck (born 1964), who has built a three-decade career in American conservative political commentary. The name last appeared in the top-1000 in 2008 at rank #865.
Glenn carries a crisp, open sound and a distinctly Highland character. The recorded variant Glen offers the simpler single-N spelling used more often as a surname form.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Glenn
US Popularity History (1901–2008)
Annual US births named Glenn by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1962 with 7,358 boys named Glenn (boy rank #55 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2008, ranked #865 for boys (246 US births). That's 810 places below its 1962 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glen | From The Valley | Male | Celtic |
Famous People Named Glenn
2 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Glenn.
- Glenn Beck — TV Show Host (1964)
- Glenn Close — Movie Actress (1947)
Looking for names like Glenn?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Glenn to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Glenn against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).