Brelyn
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a blend meaning "broom meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 643 living Americans carry the first name Brelyn. It is a predominantly female name (90.5% of registrations). The average person named Brelyn today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Brelyn births was 2012 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Brelyn. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
643
~ 1 in 533,055 Americans
Peak year
2012
36 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2021 SSA rank
#7,283
Tracked since 1987
Census
Brelyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 575 people with the first name Brelyn, which placed it at #18,673 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#18,673
National first-name rank
People counted
575
575 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Brelyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brelyn is White at 46.1%. The next largest groups are Black (40.2%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Brelyn described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Brelyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.1% · 265
- Black or African American40.2% · 231
- Two or more races6.1% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Brelyn
Brelyn leans heavily female at 90.5% of total registrations, but 62 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Brelyn as a male name
- Ranked #8,947 in 2021
- 8 male births in 2021
- Peak: 2011 (9 births)
Brelyn as a female name
- Ranked #7,283 in 2024
- 15 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (31 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brelyn leans strongly female. 484 people counted with this name were female (84.9%), compared with 86 male bearers (15.1%).
Popularity
Brelyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Brelyn from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 247 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Brelyn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Brelyn by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Brelyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Brelyns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Brelyn
The name Brelyn is a relatively modern invention, originating in the late 20th century. It does not have a clear linguistic or cultural origin, but appears to be a combination of the names Bree and Lynette, or possibly a variant of the name Brelyn.
There are no known historical references or appearances of this name in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records prior to the 20th century. It is likely a created name, possibly inspired by other names or words, but without a direct etymological lineage.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Brelyn are from the late 20th century, with the first known bearer being Brelyn Bowman, an American actress born in 1981. Other notable individuals with the first name Brelyn include Brelyn Kerr, an American artist and illustrator born in 1986, and Brelyn Lyons, an American model and social media influencer born in 1992.
While the name Brelyn is relatively uncommon, it has been used by a small number of individuals throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Some additional examples include Brelyn Appel, an American volleyball player born in 1994, and Brelyn Bowman, an American singer and songwriter born in 1988.
Given the modern origin of the name and its limited usage, there are relatively few individuals of historical significance who have borne the first name Brelyn. It remains a unique and uncommon name, likely created for its aesthetic appeal rather than any specific linguistic or cultural heritage.
People
Brelyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Brelyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Brelyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Brelyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 643 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Brelyn going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 533,055 US residents.
Is Brelyn a common name?
We classify Brelyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 652 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Brelyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Brelyn was 2012, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Brelyn is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Brelyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 575 people with the name Brelyn, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,673 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Brelyn in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Brelyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Brelyn leans strongly female. 484 people counted with this name were female (84.9%), compared with 86 male bearers (15.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Brelyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Brelyn is White at 46.1%. The next largest groups are Black (40.2%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Brelyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Brelyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.1% (265 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Brelyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Brelyn a female name?
Yes, 90.5% of people registered as Brelyn in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Brelyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Brelyn in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Brelyn can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Brelyn?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.