Devyn
Feminine variant of Devon, a name of Welsh origin meaning "from the banks of the Devonian river".
Name Census estimates that about 15,715 living Americans carry the first name Devyn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 57.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Devyn today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Devyn births was 2000 (664 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Devyn. 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 Devyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Devyn sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
16K
~ 1 in 21,811 Americans
Peak year
2000
664 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,146
Tracked since 1974
Census
Devyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,891 people with the first name Devyn, which placed it at #2,091 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
#2,091
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
12,891 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Devyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Devyn is White at 60.9%. The next largest groups are Black (15.7%) and Hispanic (12.0%). 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 Devyn 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 Devyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.9% · 7,850
- Black or African American15.7% · 2,024
- Hispanic or Latino12.0% · 1,545
- Two or more races8.6% · 1,115
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 230
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 127
Gender
Gender distribution for Devyn
Devyn is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 15,993 total registrations, 6,746 (42.2%) were male and 9,247 (57.8%) were female.
Devyn as a male name
- Ranked #2,635 in 2024
- 50 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (333 births)
Devyn as a female name
- Ranked #1,146 in 2024
- 210 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (335 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Devyn on both sides of the split. Of the 12,889 people counted with this name, 5,360 were male (41.6%) and 7,529 were female (58.4%).
Popularity
Devyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Devyn from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5,652 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Devyn 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 Devyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Devyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Devyn, while Wyoming, West Virginia, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 272 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Devyn
The name Devyn is a modern variation of the traditional Welsh name Dafydd, which is the Welsh form of the biblical name David. The name David is derived from the Hebrew word "dwd" meaning "beloved" or "uncle." The original Hebrew name was likely a compound of two words, "dod" meaning "beloved" and a word of uncertain meaning, possibly related to "uncle."
In Welsh, the name Dafydd emerged as the standard form of the name David. It was a popular name among the Welsh people for centuries, often given to princes and leaders. One of the most famous Welsh figures with this name was Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last true Prince of Wales, who led a rebellion against English rule in the 13th century.
The spelling variation Devyn likely emerged in the modern era as an Anglicized form of the Welsh Dafydd. It became popular in English-speaking countries, particularly in the United States, as a gender-neutral name that could be used for both boys and girls.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Devyn was for Devyn Denton, an American singer-songwriter and musician who was born in 1973. Another notable figure with this name was Devyn Marble, an American professional basketball player who was born in 1992 and played for several teams in the NBA and abroad.
In literature, one of the most famous characters with the name Devyn was Devyn Sadler, the protagonist of the "Devyn Sadler" book series by author C.J. Hill, which follows the adventures of a young witch in a magical world.
Other notable people with the name Devyn include Devyn Renee, an American actress and model born in 1986, and Devyn Crimson, an American professional wrestler born in 1994.
While the name Devyn is a modern variation, it carries the rich history and cultural significance of its Welsh roots and the biblical name David, with its meaning of "beloved" or "uncle." Its increasing popularity in recent decades reflects a trend towards gender-neutral and unique names in many English-speaking countries.
People
Devyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Devyn 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
Devyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Devyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,715 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Devyn 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 21,811 US residents.
Is Devyn a common name?
We classify Devyn as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,993 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Devyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Devyn was 2000, when 664 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Devyn is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Devyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,891 people with the name Devyn, or 4.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,091 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 Devyn 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 Devyn?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Devyn on both sides of the split. Of the 12,889 people counted with this name, 5,360 were male (41.6%) and 7,529 were female (58.4%). 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 Devyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Devyn is White at 60.9%. The next largest groups are Black (15.7%) and Hispanic (12.0%). 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 Devyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Devyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.9% (7,850 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 Devyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Devyn a female name?
Yes, 57.8% of people registered as Devyn 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 Devyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Devyn 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 Devyn 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 Devyn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.