Arwyn
A Welsh name meaning "highly respected" or "prestigious".
Name Census estimates that about 658 living Americans carry the first name Arwyn. It is a predominantly female name (94.0% of registrations). The average person named Arwyn today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arwyn births was 2024 (53 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arwyn. 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 Arwyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
658
~ 1 in 520,903 Americans
Peak year
2024
53 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,639
Tracked since 1978
Census
Arwyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 519 people with the first name Arwyn, which placed it at #20,044 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
#20,044
National first-name rank
People counted
519
519 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arwyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arwyn is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.0%) and Hispanic (9.2%). 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 Arwyn 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 Arwyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.3% · 375
- Two or more races10.0% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino9.2% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.0% · 26
- Black or African American2.7% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Arwyn
Arwyn leans heavily female at 94.0% of total registrations, but 40 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Arwyn as a male name
- Ranked #7,266 in 2024
- 11 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (11 births)
Arwyn as a female name
- Ranked #3,639 in 2024
- 42 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (42 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arwyn leans strongly female. 466 people counted with this name were female (90.7%), compared with 48 male bearers (9.3%).
Popularity
Arwyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arwyn from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 268 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Arwyn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arwyn 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 Arwyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Arwyns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Arwyn
The name Arwyn originates from the Welsh language and culture, with its roots dating back to ancient Celtic times. It is derived from the Welsh words "ar" meaning "by" or "near," and "gwyn" meaning "white" or "fair." The name is believed to have been initially used to describe someone who lived near a white or light-colored place, such as a white cliff or a glen with light-colored stones.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Arwyn can be found in medieval Welsh poetry and literature, where it was often used as a poetic name or epithet for fair-skinned maidens or noble ladies. In the 13th century Welsh manuscript "Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch" (The White Book of Rhydderch), there is a reference to an Arwyn ferch Gwydion, or Arwyn, daughter of Gwydion, who was a figure from Welsh mythology.
Throughout history, the name Arwyn has been associated with various notable individuals. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Arwyn ap Rhys (c. 1250-1310), a Welsh nobleman and military leader who fought in the Wars of Welsh Independence against the English. Another notable Arwyn was Arwyn Gruffydd (c. 1520-1580), a Welsh poet and bard who composed numerous works in the traditional Welsh poetic forms.
In the 16th century, there was a record of an Arwyn Wynn (c. 1540-1610), a landowner and prominent figure in the county of Caernarvonshire, Wales. Later, in the 18th century, Arwyn Owen (1727-1795) was a Welsh Anglican clergyman and scholar who published works on Welsh history and literature.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Arwyn was Arwyn Gryffydd (1892-1972), a Welsh author, poet, and playwright. She was a prominent figure in the Welsh literary scene and was known for her novels and plays that explored Welsh culture and identity.
While the name Arwyn has its roots in ancient Welsh culture, it has also found its way into modern literature and popular culture. J.R.R. Tolkien, the renowned author of "The Lord of the Rings," used the name Arwen for one of the central characters in his Middle-earth legendarium, an Elven princess who was the daughter of Elrond and Celebrían. This use of the name in Tolkien's influential works has contributed to its recognition and popularity in recent times.
People
Arwyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arwyn 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
Arwyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arwyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 658 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arwyn 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 520,903 US residents.
Is Arwyn a common name?
We classify Arwyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 665 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arwyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Arwyn was 2024, when 53 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arwyn is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arwyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 519 people with the name Arwyn, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,044 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 Arwyn 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 Arwyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arwyn leans strongly female. 466 people counted with this name were female (90.7%), compared with 48 male bearers (9.3%). 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 Arwyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arwyn is White at 72.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.0%) and Hispanic (9.2%). 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 Arwyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Arwyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.3% (375 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 Arwyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arwyn a female name?
Yes, 94.0% of people registered as Arwyn in the SSA data are female. 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 Arwyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arwyn 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 Arwyn 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 Arwyn as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Arwyn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.