Layan
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "soft and gentle".
Name Census estimates that about 2,874 living Americans carry the first name Layan. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Layan today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Layan births was 2022 (247 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Layan. 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 Layan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Layan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 119,260 Americans
Peak year
2022
247 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,025
Tracked since 1994
Census
Layan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,609 people with the first name Layan, which placed it at #8,868 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
#8,868
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,609 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Layan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Layan is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.0%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Layan 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 Layan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.1% · 1,369
- Two or more races6.0% · 96
- Black or African American5.3% · 85
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 33
- Hispanic or Latino1.5% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Layan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Layan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,427 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Layan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Layan 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 Layan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Layans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. Michigan, New York, California recorded the most babies named Layan, while Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 94 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Layan
The name Layan originates from the Arabic language and has its roots in the Middle Eastern and North African regions. It is derived from the Arabic word "layyin," which means "soft" or "gentle." The name is believed to have been in use since ancient times, possibly dating back to the pre-Islamic era in the Arabian Peninsula.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Layan can be found in ancient Arabic poetry and literature. It was often used as a descriptive term to describe a person's gentle and kind demeanor. However, it is unclear when exactly the word transitioned from being a descriptive term to becoming a proper name.
In the Islamic tradition, there are no direct references to the name Layan in religious scriptures such as the Quran or Hadith. However, the meaning of the name aligns with the values of kindness, compassion, and gentleness, which are highly regarded in Islamic teachings.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Layan was Layan bint Yahya al-Ghassani, a renowned Arabian poet who lived in the 7th century AD. She was celebrated for her eloquent poetry and her contribution to the preservation of the Arabic literary tradition.
Another notable figure with the name Layan was Layan al-Amiri, a 10th-century Islamic scholar and writer from Persia. She was known for her expertise in various fields, including literature, philosophy, and theology.
In the 12th century, Layan al-Din al-Qazwini was a prominent Persian physician and philosopher. He made significant contributions to the field of medicine and wrote several influential treatises on various medical and philosophical topics.
During the 14th century, Layan al-Mawsili was a renowned Iraqi calligrapher and artist. Her intricate calligraphic works were highly regarded and adorned the walls of mosques and palaces throughout the region.
In more recent history, Layan Ghazzawi was a Syrian artist and activist who lived in the 20th century. She was known for her vibrant paintings that depicted the struggles and resilience of the Syrian people during times of conflict and turmoil.
While the name Layan has its roots in the Arab world, it has since gained popularity across various cultures and regions, transcending its geographic and linguistic boundaries.
People
Layan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Layan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Layan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Layan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,874 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Layan 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 119,260 US residents.
Is Layan a common name?
We classify Layan as "Rare". It ranks above 95% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,896 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Layan most popular?
The single biggest year for Layan was 2022, when 247 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Layan is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Layan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,609 people with the name Layan, or 0.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,868 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 Layan 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 Layan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Layan leans strongly female. 1,593 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 18 male bearers (1.1%). 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 Layan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Layan is White at 85.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.0%) and Black (5.3%). 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 Layan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Layan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.1% (1,369 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 Layan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Layan a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Layan 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 Layan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Layan 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 Layan 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 Layan?
See how many people share the name Layan on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.