Gracelynn
A feminine name derived from the word "grace", implying divine favor.
Name Census estimates that about 12,457 living Americans carry the first name Gracelynn. It sits at #427 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gracelynn today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gracelynn births was 2020 (1,031 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gracelynn. 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 Gracelynn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Gracelynn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 27,515 Americans
Peak year
2020
1,031 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#427
Tracked since 1995
Census
Gracelynn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,647 people with the first name Gracelynn, which placed it at #3,234 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
#3,234
National first-name rank
People counted
6.6K
6,647 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gracelynn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gracelynn is White at 79.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Gracelynn 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 Gracelynn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.9% · 5,312
- Hispanic or Latino7.8% · 516
- Two or more races6.1% · 408
- Black or African American3.6% · 236
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 98
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 77
Popularity
Gracelynn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gracelynn from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6,834 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Gracelynn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gracelynn 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 Gracelynn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gracelynns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, Indiana recorded the most babies named Gracelynn, while New Hampshire, Delaware, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 247 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gracelynn
The name Gracelynn is a relatively modern combination of the English names Grace and Lynn. Grace is derived from the Latin gratia, meaning "grace" or "favor." The name has been used in English-speaking countries since the Middle Ages, and it gained popularity as a virtue name during the Puritan era of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Lynn is an English surname that originated as a place name, referring to a town in Norfolk, England. It later became a feminine given name, often used as a diminutive form of Linda or Lyndsey.
The earliest recorded use of the name Gracelynn appears to be in the late 20th century, as a combination of the two names Grace and Lynn. It likely emerged as a way to create a unique and melodic name that still retained the familiarity and meaning of its component parts.
While there are no known historical figures specifically named Gracelynn, there have been several notable individuals named Grace throughout history. One of the earliest was Grace O'Malley (c. 1530-1603), an Irish pirate queen and leader of the Ó Máille clan.
Another famous Grace was Grace Darling (1815-1842), an English lighthouse keeper's daughter who became a celebrated heroine for her role in rescuing survivors from the shipwrecked Forfarshire in 1838.
In the 20th century, Grace Kelly (1929-1982) was an American actress who became Princess of Monaco after marrying Prince Rainier III in 1956.
Grace Hopper (1906-1992) was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral, known for her pioneering work in computer programming and the development of the first compiler.
Grace Jones (born 1948) is a Jamaican-American singer, model, and actress, known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and innovative music videos in the 1980s.
While the name Gracelynn is a relatively modern creation, it draws from the rich historical roots of its component names, Grace and Lynn, and carries the connotations of favor, virtue, and a connection to nature.
People
Gracelynn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gracelynn 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
Gracelynn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gracelynn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,457 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gracelynn 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 27,515 US residents.
Is Gracelynn a common name?
We classify Gracelynn as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,550 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gracelynn most popular?
The single biggest year for Gracelynn was 2020, when 1,031 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gracelynn is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gracelynn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,647 people with the name Gracelynn, or 2.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,234 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 Gracelynn 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 Gracelynn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gracelynn appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,646 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Gracelynn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gracelynn is White at 79.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.8%) and Two or More Races (6.1%). 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 Gracelynn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gracelynn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.9% (5,312 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 Gracelynn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gracelynn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gracelynn in the SSA data are female. 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 Gracelynn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gracelynn 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 Gracelynn 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 Americans are named Gracelynn?
You can see how many people share the name Gracelynn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.