Garlyn
A combination name formed from the elements "gar" (spear) and "lyn" (lake or waterfall).
Name Census estimates that about 9 living Americans carry the first name Garlyn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 68.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Garlyn today is around 75 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Garlyn births was 1952 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Garlyn. 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 Garlyn is about 75 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Garlyns were born before 1961.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Garlyn. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
9
~ 1 in 38,083,815 Americans
Peak year
1952
6 babies that year
Average age
75
years old
1952 SSA rank
#3,499
Tracked since 1942
Census
Garlyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 118 people with the first name Garlyn, which placed it at #50,661 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
#50,661
National first-name rank
People counted
118
118 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Garlyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Garlyn is White at 72.0%. The next largest groups are Black (10.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.2%). 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 Garlyn 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 Garlyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.0% · 85
- Black or African American10.2% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.2% · 12
- Two or more races7.6% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Garlyn
Garlyn is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 16 total registrations, 11 (68.8%) were male and 5 (31.3%) were female.
Garlyn as a male name
- Ranked #3,499 in 1952
- 6 male births in 1952
- Peak: 1952 (6 births)
Garlyn as a female name
- Ranked #4,879 in 1942
- 5 female births in 1942
- Peak: 1942 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Garlyn on both sides of the split. Of the 120 people counted with this name, 51 were male (42.5%) and 69 were female (57.5%).
Popularity
Garlyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Garlyn from the 1940s through to the 1950s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 10 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1940s peak, Garlyn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Garlyn 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 Garlyn 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 Garlyn
The name Garlyn is of Old English origin, derived from the elements "gar" meaning spear and "linn" meaning pool or lake. It first emerged in the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries, and was likely used as a descriptive name for someone who lived near a spear-shaped pool or lake.
While the name Garlyn is not widely recorded in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it can be found in some historical records from medieval England. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Garlyn of Mercia, a minor nobleman who was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, a comprehensive survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror.
Throughout history, there have been a few notable individuals with the name Garlyn. In the 13th century, Garlyn of Shrewsbury was a respected scholar and author who wrote several treatises on mathematics and astronomy. Another Garlyn, born in 1412 in Yorkshire, was a skilled archer who fought alongside Henry V during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.
In the 16th century, Garlyn Wycliffe, born in 1532, was a prominent Protestant reformer and translator of the Bible into English. He is known for his influential role in the Protestant Reformation in England.
During the English Civil War in the 17th century, Garlyn Fairfax, born in 1612, was a renowned military commander who fought for the Parliamentarian forces against King Charles I. He played a crucial role in several major battles, including the Battle of Naseby in 1645.
Another notable figure with the name Garlyn was Garlyn Livingstone, an explorer and missionary born in 1813 in Scotland. He is famous for his expeditions in Africa, where he sought to explore the continent and spread Christianity. His journey to discover the sources of the Nile River and his writings about his travels made him a celebrated figure in his time.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Garlyn, highlighting its rich historical roots and significance across various periods and contexts.
People
Garlyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Garlyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Garlyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Garlyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Garlyn 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 38,083,815 US residents.
Is Garlyn a common name?
We classify Garlyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 25.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Garlyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Garlyn was 1952, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Garlyn is about 75 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Garlyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 118 people with the name Garlyn, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,661 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 Garlyn 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 Garlyn?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Garlyn on both sides of the split. Of the 120 people counted with this name, 51 were male (42.5%) and 69 were female (57.5%). 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 Garlyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Garlyn is White at 72.0%. The next largest groups are Black (10.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.2%). 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 Garlyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Garlyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.0% (85 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 Garlyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Garlyn a male name?
Yes, 68.8% of people registered as Garlyn 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 Garlyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Garlyn 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 Garlyn 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 common is the name Garlyn?
See how many Americans are named Garlyn on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.