Wayland
From English roots meaning "wandering wader" or "wayfarer".
Name Census estimates that about 2,541 living Americans carry the first name Wayland. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wayland today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wayland births was 2023 (64 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wayland. 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
2.5K
~ 1 in 134,890 Americans
Peak year
2023
64 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,143
Tracked since 1884
Census
Wayland in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,191 people with the first name Wayland, which placed it at #7,067 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
#7,067
National first-name rank
People counted
2.2K
2,191 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wayland
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wayland is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.7%). 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 Wayland 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 Wayland at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.2% · 1,539
- Black or African American13.4% · 294
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.7% · 169
- Two or more races3.8% · 84
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 61
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 44
Popularity
Wayland: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wayland from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 482 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Wayland remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wayland 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 Wayland during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Waylands live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, California recorded the most babies named Wayland, while Wisconsin, New Mexico, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 80 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Wayland
The name Wayland originates from Old English and is derived from the words "weg" meaning "way" and "land" meaning "land". It is believed to have originated as a place name referring to a cleared path or road through a forested area. The name was likely given to someone who lived near such a path or road.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Wayland appears in the Old English poem "Beowulf", where it is used to refer to a legendary smith or metalworker. In the poem, Wayland is described as a skilled craftsman who was imprisoned by a king but eventually escaped by fashioning wings and flying away.
Another early reference to the name Wayland can be found in the Frankish epic "The Song of the Nibelungs", where it is used as the name of a master blacksmith who forges a legendary sword called Balmung.
The first recorded example of the name being used as a given name is from the 11th century, when a man named Wayland was listed in the Domesday Book, a survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Wayland. One of the earliest was Wayland the Smith, a legendary figure from Germanic mythology who was said to be a skilled metalworker and the creator of many famous swords and other weapons.
Another famous bearer of the name was Wayland Vaughan (1572-1641), an English poet and physician who was a prominent member of the literary circle known as the Metaphysical Poets.
In the 18th century, Wayland Young (1733-1819) was an English clergyman and author who wrote several books on natural history and theology.
In the 19th century, Wayland Hoyt (1838-1892) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut.
More recently, Wayland Addison Young (1913-2001) was an American educator and university administrator who served as the president of Florida A&M University from 1953 to 1977.
People
Wayland + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wayland as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wayland: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wayland?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,541 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wayland 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 134,890 US residents.
Is Wayland a common name?
We classify Wayland as "Rare". It ranks above 94.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,159 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wayland most popular?
The single biggest year for Wayland was 2023, when 64 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wayland is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wayland in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,191 people with the name Wayland, or 0.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,067 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 Wayland 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 Wayland?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wayland appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,187 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Wayland?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wayland is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.7%). 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 Wayland most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Wayland in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.2% (1,539 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 Wayland in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wayland a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wayland 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 Wayland still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wayland 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 Wayland 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 have Wayland as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.