Dylan
Dylan was given to 6,208 boys in 2025, #41 among boys’ names; 434,951 Americans have been recorded with it since 1953 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 426,000 Americans named Dylan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 years old and half are between 13 and 29.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Dylan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Dylan mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Dylan is “a male given name from Welsh.” Its etymology gives the senses “son of the sea” (for) and “born from the ocean.” (or).
From Welsh mythology; possibly from Celtic for “son of the sea” or “born from the ocean.” Unrelated to the name Dillon, although the homophony may result in the two being considered variant spellings of the same name.
/ˈdɪlən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Dylan?
#41 among boys’ names, 2025
Dylan fell from #27 in 2015 to #41 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 5.4 to 3.6 per 1,000.
16,696 babies in 2001, the peak
Dylan peaked in 2001, when 16,696 babies were given it (16,497 boys, #21 among boys’ names). The 6,546 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 39% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6,208 | #41 | 3.6 |
| 2024 | 7,487 | #28 | 4.3 |
| 2023 | 7,074 | #34 | 4.1 |
| 2022 | 6,745 | #42 | 3.9 |
| 2021 | 6,767 | #44 | 3.9 |
| 2020 | 6,857 | #42 | 4.0 |
| 2019 | 7,555 | #39 | 4.2 |
| 2018 | 8,610 | #31 | 4.7 |
| 2017 | 9,315 | #29 | 5.0 |
| 2016 | 9,720 | #32 | 5.1 |
Every recorded year (73)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 10,298 | #27 | 5.4 |
| 2014 | 10,416 | #29 | 5.4 |
| 2013 | 10,127 | #29 | 5.4 |
| 2012 | 10,001 | #31 | 5.3 |
| 2011 | 9,792 | #33 | 5.2 |
| 2010 | 10,520 | #31 | 5.5 |
| 2009 | 11,373 | #30 | 5.7 |
| 2008 | 11,710 | #31 | 5.7 |
| 2007 | 12,811 | #29 | 6.2 |
| 2006 | 13,171 | #26 | 6.4 |
| 2005 | 13,782 | #24 | 6.9 |
| 2004 | 14,852 | #19 | 7.5 |
| 2003 | 15,703 | #19 | 7.9 |
| 2002 | 14,821 | #23 | 7.6 |
| 2001 | 16,497 | #21 | 8.5 |
| 2000 | 15,405 | #24 | 7.8 |
| 1999 | 15,981 | #23 | 8.3 |
| 1998 | 14,540 | #25 | 7.6 |
| 1997 | 12,968 | #30 | 6.9 |
| 1996 | 12,037 | #33 | 6.4 |
| 1995 | 12,091 | #34 | 6.4 |
| 1994 | 12,530 | #32 | 6.5 |
| 1993 | 12,686 | #33 | 6.5 |
| 1992 | 15,064 | #28 | 7.5 |
| 1991 | 9,763 | #46 | 4.8 |
| 1990 | 4,414 | #83 | 2.1 |
| 1989 | 2,853 | #115 | 1.4 |
| 1988 | 2,158 | #137 | 1.1 |
| 1987 | 1,997 | #141 | 1.1 |
| 1986 | 1,833 | #149 | 1.0 |
| 1985 | 1,331 | #188 | 0.72 |
| 1984 | 971 | #231 | 0.54 |
| 1983 | 777 | #266 | 0.43 |
| 1982 | 700 | #290 | 0.39 |
| 1981 | 729 | #283 | 0.41 |
| 1980 | 822 | #265 | 0.46 |
| 1979 | 639 | #305 | 0.37 |
| 1978 | 480 | #351 | 0.29 |
| 1977 | 530 | #338 | 0.32 |
| 1976 | 399 | #386 | 0.25 |
| 1975 | 454 | #366 | 0.29 |
| 1974 | 384 | #395 | 0.24 |
| 1973 | 277 | #474 | 0.18 |
| 1972 | 302 | #454 | 0.19 |
| 1971 | 257 | #509 | 0.15 |
| 1970 | 314 | #457 | 0.17 |
| 1969 | 228 | #514 | 0.13 |
| 1968 | 121 | #686 | 0.07 |
| 1967 | 63 | #911 | 0.04 |
| 1966 | 62 | #928 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 47 | #1,084 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 38 | #1,265 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 34 | #1,341 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 19 | #1,866 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 33 | #1,391 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 39 | #1,256 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 30 | #1,446 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 22 | #1,696 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 11 | #2,529 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 10 | #2,678 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 12 | #2,335 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 7 | #3,239 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 5 | #3,959 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Dylan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 434,951 Americans recorded as Dylan, 4% are girls and 96% boys. In 2025 it went to 338 girls and 6,208 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Dylan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Dylan, and how old are they?
426,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 434,951 Americans ever recorded as Dylan. The median Dylan alive today is 22 years old; half are between 13 and 29.
The 2020 Census counted 343,919 people named Dylan (12,564 women and girls, 331,355 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 386,758 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 195 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,950 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 89,700 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 217,000 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 115,000 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Dylan born?
The states with the most babies named Dylan are California, Texas and Florida, with 38% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 916 | #28 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 859 | #28 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 675 | #11 | 1.1× |
| New York | 491 | #20 | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 270 | #19 | 1.1× |
| Georgia | 237 | #29 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 188 | #53 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 184 | #64 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 179 | #66 | 1.1× |
| Tennessee | 164 | #35 | 0.9× |
Where Dylan is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Dylan is most over-represented in Florida: since 1953 it was given 1.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Dylan with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 459,902 babies since 1880, Dylan is the most given (95% of them). In 2025 it was given to 6,546 of their 6,940 babies (94%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Dylan
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Dylan and names like it
- Compare Dylan and DillanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sDylan peaked in 2001.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Dylan since 1910.
- Welsh namesWiktionary’s origin for Dylan: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2001The year the most babies were named Dylan.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Dylan alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with DMost given first.