Hylan
A variant of the Irish surname meaning "streamer" or "wanderer".
Name Census estimates that about 54 living Americans carry the first name Hylan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hylan today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hylan births was 2024 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hylan. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hylan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
54
~ 1 in 6,347,303 Americans
Peak year
2024
8 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,301
Tracked since 1923
Census
Hylan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 180 people with the first name Hylan, which placed it at #41,022 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
#41,022
National first-name rank
People counted
180
180 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hylan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hylan is White at 64.4%. The next largest groups are Black (21.1%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). 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 Hylan 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 Hylan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.4% · 116
- Black or African American21.1% · 38
- Two or more races7.8% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 1
Popularity
Hylan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hylan from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 28 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Hylan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hylan 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 Hylan 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 Hylan
The given name Hylan has its roots in the Celtic languages, specifically in the Brythonic branch. It is believed to have originated in the 5th or 6th century AD, during the period when the Celtic Britons were inhabiting parts of what is now England, Wales, and southern Scotland. The name Hylan is derived from the ancient Brythonic word "helyn," which means "willow" or "willow tree."
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Hylan can be found in the Welsh Triads, a collection of traditional stories and legends from medieval Wales. In these texts, Hylan is mentioned as the name of a legendary warrior who fought against the invading Saxons.
During the Middle Ages, the name Hylan was fairly common among the Welsh and Cornish populations. It is believed that several minor nobles and landowners bore this name during this period, although specific records are scarce.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Hylan Dda (Hylan the Good) was a respected judge and legal scholar in Wales. He is credited with codifying and reforming the Welsh law system, which had its roots in ancient Celtic traditions.
Another historical figure with the name Hylan was Hylan Vaughan, a Welsh poet and writer who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He is best known for his collection of poems and writings that celebrated Welsh culture and language.
In the 19th century, a prominent American politician named Hylan B. Brumbaugh (1863-1952) served as the Mayor of New York City from 1918 to 1925. His unusual first name, Hylan, was a nod to his Welsh ancestry.
More recently, Hylan E. Lewis (1905-1986) was an American tennis player who won several Grand Slam titles in the 1920s and 1930s. He was born in California but had Welsh roots, which likely inspired his unique first name.
While not as common as it once was, the name Hylan has persisted throughout history, primarily among individuals with Welsh or Cornish heritage. Its connection to the ancient Celtic languages and the willow tree has given it a sense of natural and historical significance.
People
Hylan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hylan 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
Hylan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hylan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 54 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hylan 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 6,347,303 US residents.
Is Hylan a common name?
We classify Hylan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 55.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 69 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hylan most popular?
The single biggest year for Hylan was 2024, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hylan is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hylan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 180 people with the name Hylan, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,022 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 Hylan 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 Hylan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Hylan on both sides of the split. Of the 183 people counted with this name, 123 were male (67.2%) and 60 were female (32.8%). 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 Hylan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hylan is White at 64.4%. The next largest groups are Black (21.1%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). 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 Hylan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hylan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.4% (116 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 Hylan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hylan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hylan 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 Hylan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hylan 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 Hylan 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 Hylan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.