Gracelyn
A feminine name of English origin meaning "grace" or "blessing".
Name Census estimates that about 15,080 living Americans carry the first name Gracelyn. It sits at #467 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gracelyn today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gracelyn births was 2018 (980 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gracelyn. 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 Gracelyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Gracelyn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
15K
~ 1 in 22,729 Americans
Peak year
2018
980 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#467
Tracked since 1924
Census
Gracelyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,033 people with the first name Gracelyn, which placed it at #2,460 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
#2,460
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,033 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gracelyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gracelyn is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.3%) and Two or More Races (5.7%). 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 Gracelyn 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 Gracelyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.3% · 7,957
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 630
- Two or more races5.7% · 575
- Black or African American5.3% · 532
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 231
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 108
Popularity
Gracelyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gracelyn from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 8,083 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Gracelyn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gracelyn 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 Gracelyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gracelyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Gracelyn, while Alaska, New Hampshire, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 313 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gracelyn
The name Gracelyn is a relatively modern English name that is a combination of the names Grace and Lyn. It originated in the late 20th century as a feminized version of the male name Grayson, which itself is derived from an English surname meaning "son of the gray-haired one."
The first part of the name, Grace, is a classic English name with roots in the Latin word "gratia," meaning "favor" or "thanks." It was originally used as a virtue name, representing the concept of divine grace or the unmerited favor bestowed by God. The name gained popularity during the Protestant Reformation, particularly among Puritans, who valued virtuous names.
The second part of the name, Lyn, is a diminutive form of the name Linda or Linden, which is derived from the Old German word "lind," meaning "lime tree." It was commonly used as a suffix to create shorter, more modern versions of traditional names.
While the name Gracelyn itself does not have a long historical record, it has gained popularity in recent decades as a unique and feminine name choice. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name was Gracelyn Reilli, an American singer and actress born in 1986.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the first name Grace, which forms the basis of Gracelyn. One of the most famous was Grace Kelly (1929-1982), an American actress who became Princess of Monaco upon her marriage to Prince Rainier III. Another was Grace Hopper (1906-1992), a pioneering American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral.
Other notable Graces include Grace Metalious (1924-1964), an American author best known for her controversial novel "Peyton Place," and Grace Jones (born 1948), a Jamaican-American singer, model, and actress known for her unique style and androgynous appearance.
While the name Gracelyn itself is relatively new, it carries the essence of the classic name Grace, representing favor, gratitude, and virtue, combined with the modern and feminine touch of the diminutive Lyn.
People
Gracelyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gracelyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gracelyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gracelyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,080 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gracelyn 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 22,729 US residents.
Is Gracelyn a common name?
We classify Gracelyn as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15,240 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gracelyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Gracelyn was 2018, when 980 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gracelyn is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gracelyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,033 people with the name Gracelyn, or 3.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,460 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 Gracelyn 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 Gracelyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gracelyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 10,027 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Gracelyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gracelyn is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.3%) and Two or More Races (5.7%). 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 Gracelyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gracelyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.3% (7,957 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 Gracelyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gracelyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gracelyn 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 Gracelyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gracelyn 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 Gracelyn 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 named Gracelyn?
See how many Americans are named Gracelyn on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.