Gwyn
A Welsh masculine name derived from "gwyn" meaning white or blessed.
Name Census estimates that about 1,689 living Americans carry the first name Gwyn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Gwyn today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gwyn births was 1962 (135 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gwyn. 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 Gwyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 202,933 Americans
Peak year
1962
135 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
1978 SSA rank
#6,150
Tracked since 1915
Census
Gwyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,255 people with the first name Gwyn, which placed it at #6,939 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
#6,939
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,255 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gwyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gwyn is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Gwyn 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 Gwyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.3% · 1,968
- Black or African American5.2% · 118
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 54
- Two or more races2.4% · 53
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 52
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Gwyn
Gwyn leans heavily female at 87.6% of total registrations, but 299 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Gwyn as a male name
- Ranked #6,150 in 1978
- 5 male births in 1978
- Peak: 1918 (12 births)
Gwyn as a female name
- Ranked #8,600 in 2024
- 12 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1962 (129 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gwyn leans strongly female. 2,052 people counted with this name were female (91.1%), compared with 201 male bearers (8.9%).
Popularity
Gwyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gwyn from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 750 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gwyn 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 Gwyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gwyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Gwyn, while Washington, South Carolina, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gwyn
The name Gwyn has its origins in Welsh, being derived from the word "gwyn" meaning "fair" or "blessed". It has been a popular name in Wales for centuries, particularly during the Middle Ages when it was often associated with nobility and royalty.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Gwyn dates back to the 6th century AD, when a Welsh prince named Gwyn ap Nudd was mentioned in the Welsh Triads, a collection of medieval literature. He was a legendary figure who was said to have led the Wild Hunt, a supernatural group of huntsmen and hounds who roamed the night.
In the 12th century, the name Gwyn appeared in the Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) by Geoffrey of Monmouth, a renowned chronicler of the time. The book mentions a character named Gwyn ap Nudd, who was described as the leader of the fairy people of Annwn, the Welsh Otherworld.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Gwyn. One of the most famous was Gwyn ap Gwilym (c. 1350 - c. 1420), a celebrated Welsh poet and bard who was renowned for his love poems and nature poetry. His works were widely influential and helped to establish the Welsh poetic tradition.
Another prominent figure was Gwyn Williams (1925 - 1995), a Welsh historian and academic who wrote extensively on Welsh history and culture. He was a leading authority on Welsh nationalism and played a significant role in promoting the study of Welsh history in universities.
In the world of sports, Gwyn Jones (1907 - 1999) was a Welsh rugby union player who represented Wales in the 1930s. He played as a fly-half and was part of the Welsh team that won the Five Nations Championship in 1933 and 1935.
Gwyn Thomas (1913 - 1981) was a Welsh novelist and playwright, best known for his humorous and satirical works that explored working-class life in Wales. His novel "Sorrow for Thy Sons" was a seminal work in Welsh literature and was later adapted for television.
Finally, Gwyn Alf Williams (1925 - 1995) was a Welsh historian and academic who specialized in the history of the Industrial Revolution and the working class in Britain. He was a prominent figure in the field of labor history and made significant contributions to the understanding of Welsh social history.
People
Gwyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gwyn 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
Gwyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gwyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,689 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gwyn 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 202,933 US residents.
Is Gwyn a common name?
We classify Gwyn as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,404 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gwyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Gwyn was 1962, when 135 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gwyn is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gwyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,255 people with the name Gwyn, or 0.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,939 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 Gwyn 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 Gwyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gwyn leans strongly female. 2,052 people counted with this name were female (91.1%), compared with 201 male bearers (8.9%). 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 Gwyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gwyn is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Black (5.2%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Gwyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gwyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.3% (1,968 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 Gwyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gwyn a female name?
Yes, 87.6% of people registered as Gwyn 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 Gwyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gwyn 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 Gwyn 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 Americans are named Gwyn?
See how many people have the name Gwyn on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.