Delwyn
Of Welsh origin meaning "from the beautiful grove".
Name Census estimates that about 574 living Americans carry the first name Delwyn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Delwyn today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Delwyn births was 1959 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Delwyn. 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.
People living today
574
~ 1 in 597,133 Americans
Peak year
1959
28 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2014 SSA rank
#8,973
Tracked since 1917
Popularity
Delwyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Delwyn from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 158 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
Delwyn 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 Delwyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Delwyns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Delwyn
The name Delwyn finds its origins in the Welsh language and culture, emerging around the 12th century. It is a compound name derived from the Welsh elements "del," meaning "pretty" or "beautiful," and "wyn," which means "white" or "fair." Consequently, the name Delwyn can be interpreted to mean "beautiful and fair" or "pretty and white."
Historical records suggest that the name Delwyn was initially used as a unisex name in Wales, although it eventually became more commonly associated with males. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the "Brut y Tywysogion" (Chronicle of the Princes), a medieval Welsh chronicle dating back to the late 13th century, where a person named Delwyn ap Rhys is mentioned.
In the 15th century, a Welsh poet and grammarian named Delwyn ap Gwilym gained recognition for his contributions to the preservation and promotion of the Welsh language and literature. He was born around 1420 and is believed to have lived until the late 15th century.
Another notable figure bearing the name Delwyn was Delwyn Williams, a Welsh rugby union player who represented Wales in the 1920s and 1930s. He was born in 1905 and played as a fullback for his national team, earning 16 caps between 1927 and 1934.
In the realm of literature, Delwyn Kydd was an American author and poet who wrote extensively about the experiences of Native Americans. He was born in 1920 and published several notable works, including "The Rez Road Follies" and "Waking the Blues: New and Selected Poems."
Delwyn M. Brown, born in 1920, was a prominent American engineer and inventor. He is best known for his contributions to the development of the first successful cardiac pacemaker, which revolutionized the treatment of heart conditions and saved countless lives.
While the name Delwyn has Welsh roots and was more commonly used in Wales in the past, it has since gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries with Welsh heritage or influence.
People
Delwyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Delwyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Delwyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Delwyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 574 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Delwyn 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 597,133 US residents.
Is Delwyn a common name?
We classify Delwyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 913 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Delwyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Delwyn was 1959, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Delwyn is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Delwyn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Delwyn 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.