Berwyn
Derived from Welsh words meaning "white blessed place" or "white meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 65 living Americans carry the first name Berwyn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Berwyn today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Berwyn births was 1928 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Berwyn. 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 Berwyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Berwyn is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Berwyns were born before 1960.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Berwyn. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
65
~ 1 in 5,273,144 Americans
Peak year
1928
19 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1969 SSA rank
#3,626
Tracked since 1912
Census
Berwyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 188 people with the first name Berwyn, which placed it at #39,872 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
#39,872
National first-name rank
People counted
188
188 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Berwyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berwyn is White at 56.4%. The next largest groups are Black (25.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.0%). 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 Berwyn 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 Berwyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.4% · 106
- Black or African American25.5% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.0% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.3% · 10
- Two or more races3.2% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 3
Popularity
Berwyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Berwyn from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 93 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Berwyn 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 Berwyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Berwyns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Berwyn
The name Berwyn is a Welsh name with roots dating back to the early medieval period in the British Isles. It is believed to be derived from the Welsh words "ber", meaning "fine" or "outstanding", and "gwyn", meaning "white" or "fair". The combination of these two words suggests that the name Berwyn may have originally referred to someone with a fair or bright complexion, or perhaps someone who was considered to be of good character or standing.
Historically, the name Berwyn has been associated with various locations in Wales, particularly the town of Berwyn in Denbighshire, which takes its name from the nearby Berwyn Mountains. This suggests that the name may have been used as a topographic name, referring to someone who lived near or was associated with these mountains or the surrounding area.
While there are no definitive records of the name appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures, some historians believe that variations of the name, such as "Berwynn" or "Berwin", may have been used in early Welsh literature or poetry, reflecting the cultural significance of the name in the region.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Berwyn was Berwyn ap Rhys (born circa 1170), a Welsh nobleman and landowner who lived during the late 12th century. Another notable figure from history was Berwyn of Llangollen (born circa 1480), a Welsh poet and bard who was renowned for his works in the traditional Welsh poetic style.
In more recent times, the name Berwyn has been associated with several notable individuals, including Berwyn Peet (1914-1972), an American artist and painter known for his abstract expressionist works; Berwyn Hawkins (1908-1986), an Australian cricketer who played for the Australian national team in the 1930s; and Berwyn Jones (1933-2016), a Welsh rugby union player who represented Wales at the international level.
Berwyn Rowlands (1913-1990) was a Welsh-born artist and illustrator who gained recognition for his work in children's literature, while Berwyn Kinsey (1911-1957) was a Welsh-American artist and painter whose works often depicted scenes from everyday life in rural Wales.
While the name Berwyn may not be as common today as it once was, it remains a part of the cultural heritage and history of Wales, reflecting the rich linguistic and literary traditions of the region.
People
Berwyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Berwyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Berwyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Berwyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 65 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Berwyn 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 5,273,144 US residents.
Is Berwyn a common name?
We classify Berwyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 249 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Berwyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Berwyn was 1928, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Berwyn is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Berwyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 188 people with the name Berwyn, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,872 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 Berwyn 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 Berwyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Berwyn leans strongly male. 169 people counted with this name were male (90.9%), compared with 17 female bearers (9.1%). 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 Berwyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berwyn is White at 56.4%. The next largest groups are Black (25.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.0%). 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 Berwyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Berwyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.4% (106 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 Berwyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Berwyn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Berwyn 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 Berwyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Berwyn 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 Berwyn 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 are named Berwyn?
Want to know how many Americans are named Berwyn? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.