Gwendalynn
A feminine name derived from Welsh components meaning "fair, blessed ring."
Name Census estimates that about 278 living Americans carry the first name Gwendalynn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gwendalynn today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gwendalynn births was 2008 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gwendalynn. 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
278
~ 1 in 1,232,929 Americans
Peak year
2008
23 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,026
Tracked since 1997
Census
Gwendalynn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 254 people with the first name Gwendalynn, which placed it at #32,878 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
#32,878
National first-name rank
People counted
254
254 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gwendalynn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gwendalynn is White at 69.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Two or More Races (8.3%). 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 Gwendalynn 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 Gwendalynn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.7% · 177
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 30
- Two or more races8.3% · 21
- Black or African American5.1% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.1% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 5
Popularity
Gwendalynn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gwendalynn from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 132 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Gwendalynn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gwendalynn 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 Gwendalynn 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 Gwendalynn
The name Gwendalynn is a variant spelling of the Welsh name Gwendolyn, which ultimately derives from the Celtic Welsh elements "gwen" meaning white, fair or blessed, and "dolen" meaning ring or circle. It originated in medieval Wales, with the earliest known examples dating back to the 12th century.
The name likely emerged as a feminine form of the Welsh name Gwenddolau, borne by a legendary figure from Welsh folklore and mythology who was said to have been a chieftain or warrior in the region of Arfon during the 6th century. Texts from this era sometimes referred to him as Gwenddoleu or Gwenddolou.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Gwendolyn was Gwendolyn ferch Gruffudd ap Rhys, born around 1195, the daughter of a Welsh prince. Another early bearer was Gwendolyn of Constantinople, born around 1180, who married the Byzantine Emperor Baldwin I and became Empress of the Latin Empire in the early 13th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the name saw occasional use among the Welsh nobility and gentry. Gwendalynn ap Madog, born in 1379, was a Welsh heiress and landowner. Gwendalynn Rhydderch, born in 1512, was a renowned herbalist and healer from Powys.
During the 19th century, the name experienced a revival in popularity, likely influenced by its use in literary works such as the romantic novel "The Betrothed" by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1825, which featured a character named Gwendolyn. Gwendalynn Rowlands, born in 1841, was a Welsh educator and advocate for women's rights.
Other notable individuals named Gwendalynn include Gwendalynn Hunt, born in 1906, an American actress and dancer; Gwendalynn Billington, born in 1933, a British opera singer; Gwendalynn Graham, born in 1954, an American politician and lawyer; Gwendalynn Robertson, born in 1963, a Canadian actress; and Gwendalynn Garcia, born in 1965, a Filipino politician and governor.
People
Gwendalynn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gwendalynn 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
Gwendalynn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gwendalynn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 278 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gwendalynn 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 1,232,929 US residents.
Is Gwendalynn a common name?
We classify Gwendalynn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 281 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gwendalynn most popular?
The single biggest year for Gwendalynn was 2008, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gwendalynn is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gwendalynn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 254 people with the name Gwendalynn, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,878 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 Gwendalynn 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 Gwendalynn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gwendalynn appears almost entirely female. Of the 239 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Gwendalynn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gwendalynn is White at 69.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Two or More Races (8.3%). 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 Gwendalynn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gwendalynn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.7% (177 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 Gwendalynn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gwendalynn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gwendalynn 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 Gwendalynn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gwendalynn 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 Gwendalynn 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 Gwendalynn?
You can see how many Americans are named Gwendalynn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.