Deryn
A feminine variant of 'Deryn', a Welsh name meaning "True" or "Genuine".
Name Census estimates that about 230 living Americans carry the first name Deryn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Deryn today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Deryn births was 2016 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Deryn. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Deryn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
230
~ 1 in 1,490,236 Americans
Peak year
2016
16 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2016 SSA rank
#9,048
Tracked since 1992
Census
Deryn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 342 people with the first name Deryn, which placed it at #26,967 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
#26,967
National first-name rank
People counted
342
342 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Deryn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deryn is White at 63.5%. The next largest groups are Black (17.0%) and Two or More Races (8.8%). 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 Deryn 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 Deryn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.5% · 217
- Black or African American17.0% · 58
- Two or more races8.8% · 30
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Deryn
Deryn leans heavily female at 85.9% of total registrations, but 33 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Deryn as a male name
- Ranked #9,048 in 2016
- 8 male births in 2016
- Peak: 2016 (8 births)
Deryn as a female name
- Ranked #13,876 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Deryn on both sides of the split. Of the 351 people counted with this name, 97 were male (27.6%) and 254 were female (72.4%).
Popularity
Deryn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Deryn from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 80 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Deryn 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 Deryn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Deryn
The given name Deryn is believed to have originated from the Welsh language, derived from the Welsh word "deryn," which means "bird." This name's origins can be traced back to the early medieval period in the Celtic regions of Britain, particularly in Wales.
In Welsh mythology and folklore, birds often symbolized freedom, grace, and a connection to the natural world. The name Deryn may have been bestowed upon children as a way to imbue them with these characteristics or as a nod to the rich cultural heritage of the Welsh people.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Deryn can be found in the "Black Book of Carmarthen," a 13th-century manuscript containing some of the earliest examples of Welsh poetry and prose. The name appears in a poem dedicated to a woman named Deryn, though little is known about her historical significance.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Deryn. One such person was Deryn Llwyd Morgan (1908-1988), a Welsh politician and Member of Parliament who served as the Secretary of State for Wales from 1966 to 1968. She was a prominent figure in the Labour Party and a staunch advocate for Welsh language and culture.
Another noteworthy bearer of the name was Deryn Rees-Jones (born 1964), a British poet and academic. She has published several collections of poetry and has won numerous awards, including the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in 1993.
In the realm of sports, Deryn Terrio (1944-2021) was a Canadian track and field athlete who competed in the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics. She specialized in the pentathlon and held the Canadian record in that event for several years.
Moving to the arts, Deryn Hinch (1949-2008) was an Australian actress best known for her roles in television series such as "Prisoner" and "Neighbours." She had a successful career spanning several decades and was a familiar face on Australian television screens.
Another notable figure with the name Deryn was Deryn Guest (1920-2011), a British writer and historian. She authored several books on Welsh history and culture, including "The Artes Historiques of Wales" and "The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland."
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Deryn throughout history, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of cultural diversity.
People
Deryn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Deryn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Deryn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Deryn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 230 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Deryn 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 1,490,236 US residents.
Is Deryn a common name?
We classify Deryn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 234 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Deryn most popular?
The single biggest year for Deryn was 2016, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Deryn is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Deryn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 342 people with the name Deryn, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,967 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 Deryn 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 Deryn?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Deryn on both sides of the split. Of the 351 people counted with this name, 97 were male (27.6%) and 254 were female (72.4%). 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 Deryn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Deryn is White at 63.5%. The next largest groups are Black (17.0%) and Two or More Races (8.8%). 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 Deryn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Deryn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.5% (217 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 Deryn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Deryn a female name?
Yes, 85.9% of people registered as Deryn 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 Deryn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Deryn 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 Deryn 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 share the name Deryn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.