Draylon
Of uncertain origin, potentially a blend of "dragon" and "raylon" (a type of fiber).
Name Census estimates that about 216 living Americans carry the first name Draylon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Draylon today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Draylon births was 2000 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Draylon. 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
216
~ 1 in 1,586,826 Americans
Peak year
2000
20 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,468
Tracked since 1991
Census
Draylon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 172 people with the first name Draylon, which placed it at #42,074 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
#42,074
National first-name rank
People counted
172
172 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
84.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Draylon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Draylon is Black at 84.3%. The next largest groups are White (10.5%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Draylon 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 Draylon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American84.3% · 145
- White10.5% · 18
- Two or more races3.5% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Popularity
Draylon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Draylon from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 79 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Draylon remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Draylon 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 Draylon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Draylons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Draylon
The name Draylon is a relatively modern invention, with no clear linguistic or cultural origin. It appears to be a constructed name, likely created in the 20th century, possibly as a combination of the names Drake and Layton, or potentially inspired by the word "dray," meaning a low, flat cart without sides.
Despite its modern creation, there are a few historical references to individuals bearing this unique name. One of the earliest recorded instances is Draylon Frankford, an American artist and sculptor born in 1932 in Savannah, Georgia. His works were exhibited in various galleries throughout the southeastern United States in the latter half of the 20th century.
Another notable figure with this name was Draylon Michaels, a British author and poet born in 1945 in London. He gained recognition for his collections of poetry, including "Whispers of the Night" and "Echoes of the Soul," published in the 1970s and 1980s.
In the realm of sports, Draylon Thompson was an American football player who played as a wide receiver for several teams in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1990s. He was born in 1968 and played for teams like the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins.
Moving into the realm of politics, Draylon Worthington was a Canadian politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 2003 to 2011. He represented the electoral district of Assiniboia and was part of the New Democratic Party.
Lastly, a more recent figure with this name is Draylon Becker, an Australian entrepreneur and tech innovator born in 1980. He co-founded a successful software company in the early 2000s and has been recognized for his contributions to the technology industry in Australia.
While the name Draylon is relatively uncommon, these individuals have left their mark in various fields, ranging from the arts and literature to sports, politics, and technology, showcasing the unique and diverse backgrounds of those who bear this distinctive name.
People
Draylon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Draylon 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
Draylon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Draylon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 216 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Draylon 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 1,586,826 US residents.
Is Draylon a common name?
We classify Draylon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 219 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Draylon most popular?
The single biggest year for Draylon was 2000, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Draylon is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Draylon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 172 people with the name Draylon, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,074 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 Draylon 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 Draylon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Draylon appears almost entirely male. Of the 177 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Draylon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Draylon is Black at 84.3%. The next largest groups are White (10.5%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Draylon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Draylon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.3% (145 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 Draylon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Draylon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Draylon 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 Draylon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Draylon 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 Draylon 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 called Draylon?
Find out how many Americans are named Draylon on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.