Ceylon
An English masculine name derived from the former name of Sri Lanka, of obscure etymology.
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Ceylon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ceylon today is around 97 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ceylon births was 1931 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ceylon. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Ceylon is about 97 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Ceylons were born before 1939.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ceylon. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1931
9 babies that year
Average age
97
years old
1947 SSA rank
#3,803
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Ceylon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ceylon from the 1880s through to the 1940s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 35 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
Ceylon 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 Ceylon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ceylon
The name Ceylon is derived from the Portuguese word Ceilão, which was their rendition of the Sanskrit name Sīhaladīpa, meaning "Island of Lions." This referred to the island nation now known as Sri Lanka, formerly called Ceylon. The name's origins can be traced back to the 4th century BCE, when the island was first colonized by Aryan settlers from northern India.
In ancient Hindu texts like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the island is mentioned under various names such as Lankadipa, Sinhala, and Taprobane. These names all reflect the island's connections to the mythological kingdom of Lanka, ruled by the demon king Ravana, who features prominently in the Ramayana epic.
The first known use of the specific name Ceylon dates back to the 4th century CE, when the island was referred to as Sīhaladīpa in the travelogues of the Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian. The name continued to be used throughout the Middle Ages by Arab traders and European navigators like Marco Polo, who visited the island in the 13th century.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Ceylon was Ceylon Pedro Bandaranaike (1899-1976), a Ceylonese civil servant and politician who served as the fourth Governor-General of Ceylon from 1959 to 1962. Another notable figure was Ceylon Samuelson (1854-1944), a Swedish-American businessman and real estate developer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In literature, the name appears in the 1930 novel "Ceylon Navarro" by English author Patrick Chamoiseau, which explores themes of colonial identity and rebellion in the Caribbean. In music, Ceylon Amarasinghe (1907-1984) was a prominent Ceylonese composer and violinist who helped popularize the country's traditional music styles.
Finally, in sports, Ceylon Vibart (1886-1953) was a Ceylonese cricketer who played for the national team in the early 20th century, while Ceylon Wijesinghe (1903-1978) was a Ceylonese badminton player who won numerous national and international titles in the 1920s and 1930s.
People
Ceylon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ceylon as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ceylon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ceylon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ceylon 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Ceylon a common name?
We classify Ceylon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 86 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ceylon most popular?
The single biggest year for Ceylon was 1931, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ceylon is about 97 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ceylon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ceylon 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.
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.