Lyn
A feminine name meaning "small lake" or "pool" of Welsh origin.
Name Census estimates that about 6,047 living Americans carry the first name Lyn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Lyn today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lyn births was 1954 (330 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lyn. 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 Lyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.0K
~ 1 in 56,682 Americans
Peak year
1954
330 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
1994 SSA rank
#7,455
Tracked since 1896
Census
Lyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,762 people with the first name Lyn, which placed it at #2,680 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
#2,680
National first-name rank
People counted
8.8K
8,762 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lyn is White at 79.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.8%) and Black (5.2%). 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 Lyn 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 Lyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.6% · 6,977
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.8% · 856
- Black or African American5.2% · 454
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 221
- Two or more races2.4% · 214
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 40
Gender
Gender distribution for Lyn
Lyn leans heavily female at 82.2% of total registrations, but 1,561 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lyn as a male name
- Ranked #7,455 in 1994
- 7 male births in 1994
- Peak: 1950 (61 births)
Lyn as a female name
- Ranked #11,697 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1957 (280 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lyn leans strongly female. 7,668 people counted with this name were female (87.6%), compared with 1,087 male bearers (12.4%).
Popularity
Lyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lyn from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 2,887 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lyn 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 Lyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, New York, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Lyn, while New Mexico, New Hampshire, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 121 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lyn
The name Lyn is a diminutive form of the name Linda, which is derived from the Spanish name Lindo, meaning "pretty" or "beautiful." The name can be traced back to the 16th century, when it was used as a nickname for people named Linda or Belinda. It gained popularity in English-speaking countries during the 20th century as a standalone name.
The origins of the name Lyn can be found in various cultures and languages. In German, the name Lina is a variant of Lindo, while in French, the name Line is a diminutive of Madeleine. In Celtic cultures, the name Lynn is derived from the Welsh word "llyn," meaning "lake" or "pool."
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Lyn was in the 13th century, when a woman named Lyn de Verdon was mentioned in historical records from England. In literature, the name appears in the 16th-century play "The Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare, where one of the characters is named Linen.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Lyn. One of the most famous was Lyn Nofziger (1924-2006), an American political consultant and author who served as a White House press secretary under President Ronald Reagan. Another notable figure was Lyn St. James (born 1947), an American racecar driver who competed in the Indianapolis 500 and was a pioneer in promoting women's involvement in motorsports.
In the world of entertainment, Lyn Randolph (1890-1944) was an American actress and singer who appeared in numerous Broadway productions and films during the early 20th century. Lyn Talbot (1936-1988) was an American actress and singer best known for her roles in television shows such as "The Monkees" and "Hawaii Five-O."
Lyn Hejinian (born 1941) is an American poet and academic who has been recognized for her contributions to language poetry. Her works include "My Life" and "The Cell," among others.
People
Lyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lyn 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
Lyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,047 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lyn 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 56,682 US residents.
Is Lyn a common name?
We classify Lyn as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,772 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Lyn was 1954, when 330 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lyn is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,762 people with the name Lyn, or 2.90 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,680 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 Lyn 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 Lyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lyn leans strongly female. 7,668 people counted with this name were female (87.6%), compared with 1,087 male bearers (12.4%). 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 Lyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lyn is White at 79.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (9.8%) and Black (5.2%). 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 Lyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Lyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.6% (6,977 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 Lyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lyn a female name?
Yes, 82.2% of people registered as Lyn 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 Lyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lyn 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 Lyn 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 common is the name Lyn?
See how many people share the name Lyn on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.