Shailyn
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly Scottish, meaning "from the high meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 814 living Americans carry the first name Shailyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shailyn today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shailyn births was 2001 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shailyn. 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
814
~ 1 in 421,074 Americans
Peak year
2001
49 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,213
Tracked since 1982
Census
Shailyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 679 people with the first name Shailyn, which placed it at #16,555 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
#16,555
National first-name rank
People counted
679
679 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shailyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shailyn is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.3%) and Black (12.7%). 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 Shailyn 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 Shailyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.2% · 327
- Hispanic or Latino23.3% · 158
- Black or African American12.7% · 86
- Two or more races9.6% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.7% · 18
Popularity
Shailyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shailyn from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 342 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shailyn 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 Shailyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shailyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Shailyn, while Texas, Georgia, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shailyn
The name Shailyn is a modern English variant of the Irish name Shayla or Shaylyn, which is derived from the Old Irish name Saillín. Saillín is a diminutive form of the Irish word "sáile," meaning "salt" or "brine." It was originally used as a descriptive surname for someone living near the sea or associated with salt production.
Shailyn can also trace its roots back to the Old Irish name Shailín, which is a diminutive form of the Irish word "sál," meaning "heel" or "full of heel." This name may have been given to someone with a distinctive gait or attributed to a physical characteristic.
The earliest recorded use of the name Shailyn can be found in Irish historical records from the late 16th century. One notable individual with this name was Shailyn Ó Maonaigh (1570-1640), an Irish chieftain and member of the powerful Ó Maonaigh clan from County Monaghan.
During the Middle Ages, the name Shailyn appeared in several Irish literary works and manuscripts. In the 14th century, a character named Shailyn mac Fhloinn was mentioned in the Irish saga "Cath Fhirmora" (The Battle of Ventry).
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Shailyn. Shailyn O'Brien (1830-1904) was an Irish-American writer and journalist known for her work in promoting Irish culture and literature. Shailyn MacCarthy (1885-1965) was an Irish politician and member of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
Another notable figure was Shailyn O'Callaghan (1905-1982), an Irish actress and singer who performed on stage and in several films during the mid-20th century. Shailyn Fitzpatrick (1920-2008) was an Irish-American author and historian known for her extensive research on Irish immigration to the United States.
In more recent times, Shailyn Woodley (born 1991) is an American actress and activist who has received numerous accolades for her performances in films such as "The Descendants" and "The Fault in Our Stars."
People
Shailyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shailyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Shailyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shailyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 814 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shailyn 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 421,074 US residents.
Is Shailyn a common name?
We classify Shailyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 829 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shailyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Shailyn was 2001, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shailyn is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shailyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 679 people with the name Shailyn, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,555 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 Shailyn 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 Shailyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shailyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 666 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Shailyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shailyn is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (23.3%) and Black (12.7%). 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 Shailyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shailyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.2% (327 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 Shailyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shailyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shailyn 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 Shailyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shailyn 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 Shailyn 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 called Shailyn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.