Verlin
An English masculine name originating from Old English, derived from "verri" meaning "to travel".
Name Census estimates that about 1,450 living Americans carry the first name Verlin. It is a predominantly male name (92.9% of registrations). The average person named Verlin today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Verlin births was 1929 (130 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Verlin. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Verlin is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Verlins were born before 1967.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 236,382 Americans
Peak year
1929
130 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,775
Tracked since 1905
Census
Verlin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,639 people with the first name Verlin, which placed it at #8,757 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
#8,757
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,639 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Verlin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Verlin is White at 82.8%. The next largest groups are Black (9.2%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Verlin 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 Verlin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.8% · 1,357
- Black or African American9.2% · 151
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 42
- Two or more races2.4% · 40
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Verlin
Verlin leans heavily male at 92.9% of total registrations, but 292 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Verlin as a male name
- Ranked #14,073 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1929 (117 births)
Verlin as a female name
- Ranked #7,775 in 1964
- 5 female births in 1964
- Peak: 1924 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Verlin leans strongly male. 1,484 people counted with this name were male (90.4%), compared with 157 female bearers (9.6%).
Popularity
Verlin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Verlin from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 931 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Verlin 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 Verlin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Verlins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri recorded the most babies named Verlin, while Idaho, Minnesota, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 62 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Verlin
The name Verlin is believed to have originated from the Old English language, with roots tracing back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, which lasted from the 5th to the 11th century AD. It is thought to be derived from the Old English words "vær" meaning "wary" or "cautious," and "lind" meaning "linden tree" or "lime tree."
One of the earliest known references to the name Verlin can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals that documented the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The name appears in an entry dated around the year 732 AD, referring to a person named Verlin who was a prominent landowner in the region of Mercia, which was one of the principal Anglo-Saxon kingdoms at the time.
During the Middle Ages, the name Verlin was relatively uncommon, but it continued to be used sporadically throughout various parts of England. One notable figure who bore this name was Verlin of Exeter, a Benedictine monk who lived in the 12th century and was known for his scholarly works on theology and philosophy.
In the 16th century, there is a record of a Verlin Woodhouse, born in 1542, who was a wealthy merchant and landowner in the city of York. He was known for his philanthropic efforts and contributed significantly to the construction of a hospital and a school in the city.
Another historical figure with the name Verlin was Verlin Browne, born in 1678, who was a prominent English lawyer and judge. He served as a member of the House of Commons and later became a judge on the Court of King's Bench, playing an influential role in the legal system of his time.
In the 19th century, a notable figure named Verlin Greenwood, born in 1825, was a celebrated botanist and naturalist. He made significant contributions to the study of plants and published several books on the flora of various regions in Britain.
While the name Verlin has largely fallen out of common usage in modern times, it remains a part of the rich tapestry of English names, carrying with it a historical legacy that spans several centuries and reflects the cultural influences of the Anglo-Saxon period and the Middle Ages.
People
Verlin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Verlin as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Verlin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Verlin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,450 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Verlin 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 236,382 US residents.
Is Verlin a common name?
We classify Verlin as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,104 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Verlin most popular?
The single biggest year for Verlin was 1929, when 130 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Verlin is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Verlin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,639 people with the name Verlin, or 0.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,757 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 Verlin 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 Verlin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Verlin leans strongly male. 1,484 people counted with this name were male (90.4%), compared with 157 female bearers (9.6%). 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 Verlin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Verlin is White at 82.8%. The next largest groups are Black (9.2%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Verlin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Verlin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.8% (1,357 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 Verlin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Verlin a male name?
Yes, 92.9% of people registered as Verlin in the SSA data are male. 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 Verlin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Verlin 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 Verlin 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 Verlin?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.