Harlyn
A feminine name of English origin meaning "from the hairy meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 2,009 living Americans carry the first name Harlyn. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Harlyn today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Harlyn births was 2017 (237 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Harlyn. 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
- • Harlyn started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Harlyn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 170,609 Americans
Peak year
2017
237 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,397
Tracked since 1919
Gender
Gender distribution for Harlyn
Harlyn leans heavily female at 81.5% of total registrations, but 398 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Harlyn as a male name
- Ranked #5,731 in 2024
- 16 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (19 births)
Harlyn as a female name
- Ranked #1,397 in 2024
- 160 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (221 births)
Popularity
Harlyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Harlyn from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,101 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Harlyn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Harlyn 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 Harlyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Harlyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Harlyn, while Oklahoma, Mississippi, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Harlyn
The name Harlyn is a relatively modern given name that emerged in the late 19th or early 20th century. Its origins are uncertain, but it is believed to be an English or Anglo-Saxon name derived from the combination of the Old English words "hær" meaning "army" and "linn" meaning "lake or pool." This suggests that the name may have originally been a place name referring to a lake or body of water near an army encampment or military settlement.
Another possible origin of the name is that it is a variant spelling of the name Harland, which is an English surname that can be traced back to the 12th century. Harland is thought to be derived from the Old English words "hær" meaning "army" and "land" meaning "land or territory," potentially referring to someone who lived in a territory associated with an army or military garrison.
While the name Harlyn does not appear to have any direct historical references or mentions in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its potential roots in Old English and Anglo-Saxon words suggest that it may have been used as a place name or surname in medieval England.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Harlyn as a given name are relatively recent, with records showing its use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One notable bearer of the name was Harlyn Geronimo Johnson (1903-1980), an American football player and coach who played for the University of Illinois and later coached at several colleges and universities.
Another individual with the name Harlyn was Harlyn Thompson (1928-2015), an American politician who served as the 32nd Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina from 1987 to 1995. Harlyn Davitt (1917-1984) was an American psychologist and academic who taught at various universities and authored several books on psychology.
In the field of literature, Harlyn Aizley (born 1953) is an American poet and writer who has published several collections of poetry and works of fiction. Harlyn J. Geronimo (1926-2008) was a Native American artist and painter from the Mescalero Apache tribe, known for his representations of Apache culture and traditions.
These are some of the notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Harlyn, though it remains a relatively uncommon name with limited historical records or widespread use.
People
Harlyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Harlyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Harlyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Harlyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,009 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Harlyn 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 170,609 US residents.
Is Harlyn a common name?
We classify Harlyn as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,154 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Harlyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Harlyn was 2017, when 237 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Harlyn is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Harlyn a female name?
Yes, 81.5% of people registered as Harlyn 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.
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.