Finnan is an anglicized form of the Irish Fionnan, a diminutive of fionn, so it means "fair" or "little fair one". Saint Finan, an Irish monk who succeeded Aidan as bishop of Lindisfarne in the 7th century, is its best-known bearer. The name is one of the newest offshoots of the Finn boom in the United States: it first appeared in 2019 at number 6535, reached number 2134 in 2023 and ranks number 2900 in 2025 with 43 births.