Waylon
Waylon was given to 5,408 boys in 2025, #56 among boys’ names; 55,338 Americans have been recorded with it since 1911 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 54,100 Americans named Waylon and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 6 years old and half are between 3 and 11.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Waylon by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Waylon mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Waylon is “a male given name.”
Variant of Wayland popularized by the American singer Waylon Jennings who was originally named Wayland.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Waylon?
#56 among boys’ names, 2025
Waylon rose from #222 in 2015 to #56 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.92 to 3.2 per 1,000.
5,425 babies in 2025, the peak
Waylon peaked in 2025, when 5,425 babies were given it (5,408 boys, #56 among boys’ names). In 2024 it went to 4,892 boys.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5,408 | #56 | 3.2 |
| 2024 | 4,892 | #65 | 2.8 |
| 2023 | 4,895 | #63 | 2.9 |
| 2022 | 4,923 | #66 | 2.8 |
| 2021 | 4,660 | #69 | 2.7 |
| 2020 | 3,588 | #103 | 2.1 |
| 2019 | 3,441 | #113 | 1.9 |
| 2018 | 2,790 | #142 | 1.5 |
| 2017 | 2,427 | #162 | 1.3 |
| 2016 | 2,060 | #196 | 1.1 |
Every recorded year (111)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,761 | #222 | 0.92 |
| 2014 | 1,501 | #251 | 0.78 |
| 2013 | 1,201 | #290 | 0.63 |
| 2012 | 972 | #324 | 0.51 |
| 2011 | 802 | #373 | 0.42 |
| 2010 | 657 | #421 | 0.34 |
| 2009 | 571 | #480 | 0.29 |
| 2008 | 480 | #547 | 0.24 |
| 2007 | 502 | #520 | 0.24 |
| 2006 | 466 | #544 | 0.23 |
| 2005 | 365 | #615 | 0.18 |
| 2004 | 290 | #689 | 0.15 |
| 2003 | 207 | #841 | 0.10 |
| 2002 | 228 | #758 | 0.12 |
| 2001 | 105 | #1,272 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 131 | #1,080 | 0.07 |
| 1999 | 114 | #1,153 | 0.06 |
| 1998 | 110 | #1,141 | 0.06 |
| 1997 | 134 | #976 | 0.07 |
| 1996 | 126 | #996 | 0.07 |
| 1995 | 109 | #1,085 | 0.06 |
| 1994 | 130 | #967 | 0.07 |
| 1993 | 109 | #1,066 | 0.06 |
| 1992 | 135 | #910 | 0.07 |
| 1991 | 126 | #948 | 0.06 |
| 1990 | 113 | #990 | 0.06 |
| 1989 | 119 | #934 | 0.06 |
| 1988 | 117 | #882 | 0.06 |
| 1987 | 133 | #808 | 0.07 |
| 1986 | 128 | #805 | 0.07 |
| 1985 | 180 | #655 | 0.10 |
| 1984 | 193 | #613 | 0.11 |
| 1983 | 184 | #631 | 0.10 |
| 1982 | 200 | #608 | 0.11 |
| 1981 | 304 | #478 | 0.17 |
| 1980 | 387 | #419 | 0.22 |
| 1979 | 312 | #465 | 0.18 |
| 1978 | 258 | #507 | 0.16 |
| 1977 | 253 | #525 | 0.15 |
| 1976 | 161 | #650 | 0.10 |
| 1975 | 116 | #771 | 0.07 |
| 1974 | 88 | #855 | 0.06 |
| 1973 | 100 | #795 | 0.06 |
| 1972 | 86 | #872 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 111 | #774 | 0.06 |
| 1970 | 119 | #758 | 0.06 |
| 1969 | 98 | #781 | 0.05 |
| 1968 | 79 | #828 | 0.05 |
| 1967 | 53 | #1,002 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 25 | #1,576 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 11 | #2,612 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 13 | #2,406 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 7 | #3,637 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 17 | #2,031 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 8 | #3,346 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 9 | #3,071 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 8 | #3,281 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 24 | #1,641 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 8 | #3,250 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 18 | #1,942 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 11 | #2,552 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 12 | #2,439 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 15 | #2,096 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 18 | #1,854 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 16 | #1,968 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 11 | #2,433 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 14 | #2,119 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 22 | #1,606 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 18 | #1,846 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 19 | #1,688 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 15 | #1,848 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 19 | #1,625 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 19 | #1,692 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 17 | #1,795 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 20 | #1,586 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 18 | #1,678 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 9 | #2,604 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 29 | #1,246 | 0.03 |
| 1937 | 25 | #1,370 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 19 | #1,585 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 18 | #1,706 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 22 | #1,496 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 23 | #1,451 | 0.02 |
| 1932 | 9 | #2,840 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 18 | #1,767 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 15 | #2,077 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 11 | #2,584 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 19 | #1,819 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 8 | #3,436 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 14 | #2,300 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 9 | #3,143 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 14 | #2,344 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,456 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 6 | #4,292 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 9 | #3,204 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 9 | #3,197 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 5 | #4,784 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 11 | #2,693 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,497 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,812 | 0.01 |
| 1911 | 5 | #1,987 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Waylon a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Waylon has been given almost only to boys: 290 girls in 111 years of records.
Girls and boys named Waylon: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Waylon, and how old are they?
54,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 55,338 Americans ever recorded as Waylon. The median Waylon alive today is 6 years old; half are between 3 and 11.
The 2020 Census counted 23,106 people named Waylon (130 women and girls, 22,976 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 26,890 born in the U.S. The Census count is 14% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 64 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 172 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,040 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,280 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 6,060 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 43,500 |
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 Waylon born?
The states with the most babies named Waylon are Texas, Tennessee and Ohio, with 19% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Tennessee is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 429 | #92 | 0.8× |
| Tennessee | 299 | #9 | 2.1× |
| Ohio | 281 | #26 | 1.2× |
| North Carolina | 262 | #27 | 1.5× |
| Florida | 256 | #79 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 226 | #28 | 1.4× |
| Kentucky | 223 | #4 | 2.6× |
| Missouri | 199 | #13 | 1.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 196 | #58 | 0.7× |
| Indiana | 188 | #15 | 1.5× |
Where Waylon is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Waylon is most over-represented in West Virginia: since 1911 it was given 2.6 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 Waylon 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 60,330 babies since 1880, Waylon is the most given (92% of them). In 2025 it was given to 5,425 of their 5,865 babies (92%), 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 Waylon
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 Waylon and names like it
- Compare Waylon and WaylenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sWaylon peaked in 2025.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Waylon since 1910.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Waylon.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Waylon alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with WMost given first.