Allyn
A unisex name of Germanic origin meaning "the meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 3,496 living Americans carry the first name Allyn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 62.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Allyn today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Allyn births was 1951 (152 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Allyn. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Allyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Allyn started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Allyn sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
3.5K
~ 1 in 98,042 Americans
Peak year
1951
152 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,989
Tracked since 1908
Census
Allyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,722 people with the first name Allyn, which placed it at #4,838 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
#4,838
National first-name rank
People counted
3.7K
3,722 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Allyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Allyn is White at 76.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.1%) and Black (7.3%). 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 Allyn 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 Allyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.8% · 2,860
- Hispanic or Latino8.1% · 303
- Black or African American7.3% · 271
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 150
- Two or more races3.0% · 111
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 27
Gender
Gender distribution for Allyn
Allyn is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 5,131 total registrations, 3,223 (62.8%) were male and 1,908 (37.2%) were female.
Allyn as a male name
- Ranked #8,989 in 2024
- 8 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1946 (71 births)
Allyn as a female name
- Ranked #12,196 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1951 (89 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Allyn on both sides of the split. Of the 3,726 people counted with this name, 1,999 were male (53.7%) and 1,727 were female (46.3%).
Popularity
Allyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Allyn from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 913 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Allyn 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 Allyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Allyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. New York, California, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Allyn, while Oregon, New Jersey, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Allyn
The name Allyn is an English variant of the traditional name Allen, which is derived from the Old English given name Ællan or Alun. The name traces its origins to the Germanic tribes that settled in Britain during the 5th and 6th centuries AD. Ællan is believed to be a diminutive form of the Germanic name Alo, meaning "little rock" or "little hill."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Allyn can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Alluinus" or "Aluuinus," which were common spellings of the name during the Middle Ages.
In the 12th century, a prominent figure named Allyn de Lenn, also known as Alan of Lynn, was an English scholar and theologian who served as the Bishop of Thetford and later as the Abbot of Tewkesbury. He was known for his writings on the Cistercian order and his involvement in the ecclesiastical affairs of his time.
During the Renaissance period, an Italian humanist scholar named Allyn of Bruges, also known as Alanus de Insulis or Alan of Lille (c. 1128 - 1202), gained recognition for his philosophical and theological works, particularly his treatise on the nature of the soul, titled "De Planctu Naturae" or "The Complaint of Nature."
In the 19th century, Allyn Weston (1813 - 1849) was an American author and editor who published several works, including the novel "The Village Sketch Book" and a collection of essays titled "Hitherto: A Souvenir of the War." He was also involved in the abolitionist movement and worked as an editor for anti-slavery publications.
Another notable figure with the name Allyn was Allyn Capron (1854 - 1926), an American businessman and politician who served as the 53rd Governor of Rhode Island from 1923 to 1924. He was also involved in the textile industry and played a significant role in the economic development of his state.
While the name Allyn has been more commonly used as a surname in recent times, its historical origins can be traced back to the Old English and Germanic roots, with various spellings and variants appearing throughout different periods in history.
People
Allyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Allyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Allyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Allyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,496 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Allyn 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 98,042 US residents.
Is Allyn a common name?
We classify Allyn as "Rare". It ranks above 95.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,131 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Allyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Allyn was 1951, when 152 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Allyn is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Allyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,722 people with the name Allyn, or 1.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,838 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 Allyn 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 Allyn?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Allyn on both sides of the split. Of the 3,726 people counted with this name, 1,999 were male (53.7%) and 1,727 were female (46.3%). 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 Allyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Allyn is White at 76.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.1%) and Black (7.3%). 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 Allyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Allyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.8% (2,860 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 Allyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Allyn a male name?
Yes, 62.8% of people registered as Allyn 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 Allyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Allyn 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 Allyn 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 Americans are named Allyn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.