Lyan
Middle English form of the name Lilian meaning "lily, pure".
Name Census estimates that about 685 living Americans carry the first name Lyan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Lyan today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lyan births was 2021 (80 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lyan. 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 Lyan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
685
~ 1 in 500,371 Americans
Peak year
2021
80 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,767
Tracked since 1992
Census
Lyan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 602 people with the first name Lyan, which placed it at #18,028 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
#18,028
National first-name rank
People counted
602
602 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
54.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lyan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lyan is Hispanic at 54.2%. The next largest groups are White (26.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.3%). 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 Lyan 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 Lyan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino54.2% · 326
- White26.9% · 162
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.3% · 68
- Black or African American5.3% · 32
- Two or more races2.2% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Lyan
Lyan leans heavily male at 84.3% of total registrations, but 108 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Lyan as a male name
- Ranked #2,767 in 2024
- 47 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (75 births)
Lyan as a female name
- Ranked #10,885 in 2022
- 9 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2019 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lyan on both sides of the split. Of the 599 people counted with this name, 297 were male (49.6%) and 302 were female (50.4%).
Popularity
Lyan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lyan 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 332 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lyan 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 Lyan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lyans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Lyan, while Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lyan
The name Lyan is believed to have originated in ancient Persia, now modern-day Iran, around the 6th century BCE. It is derived from the Persian word "lian," which means "bowl" or "vessel." The name may have been initially used to describe someone who crafted or sold ceramic bowls or vessels.
In the ancient Persian epic, the Shahnameh, written by the poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th century CE, there is a character named Lyan who was a skilled artisan and potter. This could be one of the earliest recorded instances of the name in literature.
During the Sassanid Empire in Persia (224-651 CE), the name Lyan gained popularity among the nobility and upper classes, who often commissioned intricate ceramic works from skilled potters and artisans.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Lyan was a Persian potter who lived in the city of Nishapur in the 9th century CE. His work was highly sought after and is still exhibited in museums around the world.
In the 12th century CE, Lyan al-Nishaburi was a renowned Persian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of spherical trigonometry and celestial mechanics.
During the Timurid Dynasty in Persia (1370-1507 CE), Lyan Beg was a prominent military commander and governor who served under various Timurid rulers.
In the 16th century, Lyan al-Qazwini was a Persian scholar and author who wrote extensively on topics such as geography, history, and natural sciences.
In the late 19th century, Lyan Khan was a prominent Afghan political leader and military commander who played a significant role in the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880).
While the name Lyan is not as common today as it once was in ancient Persia, it remains a part of the cultural heritage and history of the region, reflecting the rich artistic and intellectual traditions of the Persian civilization.
People
Lyan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lyan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lyan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lyan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 685 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lyan 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 500,371 US residents.
Is Lyan a common name?
We classify Lyan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 690 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lyan most popular?
The single biggest year for Lyan was 2021, when 80 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lyan is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lyan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 602 people with the name Lyan, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,028 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 Lyan 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 Lyan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Lyan on both sides of the split. Of the 599 people counted with this name, 297 were male (49.6%) and 302 were female (50.4%). 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 Lyan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lyan is Hispanic at 54.2%. The next largest groups are White (26.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.3%). 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 Lyan most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Lyan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.2% (326 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 Lyan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lyan a male name?
Yes, 84.3% of people registered as Lyan 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 Lyan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lyan 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 Lyan 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 share the name Lyan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.