Mostyn
Celtic name referring to someone associated with a monastery or dwelling of monks.
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Mostyn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Mostyn today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mostyn births was 2001 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mostyn. 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 Mostyn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Mostyn. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
2001
6 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2001 SSA rank
#10,127
Tracked since 2001
Popularity
Mostyn: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Mostyn 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 Mostyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Mostyn
The given name Mostyn is of Welsh origin, deriving from the words "mwst" meaning "close" and "tyn" meaning "house" or "homestead". It is believed to have originated in the medieval period, around the 13th or 14th century, in the region of North Wales.
The name Mostyn is closely associated with the historic Mostyn family, who trace their lineage to the Anglo-Norman lords who settled in Flintshire, Wales, following the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The family's ancestral seat was the Mostyn Hall estate near the town of Mostyn.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Mostyn dates back to the 13th century, when Sir Roger de Mostyn was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. Another notable figure was Sir Thomas Mostyn (1490-1558), a Welsh landowner and High Sheriff of Flintshire during the reign of King Henry VIII.
In the 17th century, Sir Roger Mostyn (1617-1690) was a prominent Welsh politician and member of the Parliament of England. He was a staunch Royalist during the English Civil War and was knighted by King Charles II in 1661.
The name Mostyn also appears in religious texts, such as the Book of Common Prayer used by the Church of England, which includes a prayer for the Mostyn family.
Other notable individuals with the given name Mostyn include:
1. Mostyn John Armstrong (1805-1892), a British naval officer and colonial administrator who served as the 5th Governor of New South Wales, Australia.
2. Mostyn Tiddri Tomas Lloyd Piozzi (1825-1904), a Welsh writer and artist, best known for his memoir "Pencillings of a Tour in Wales" published in 1845.
3. Mostyn Pigott (1865-1942), a British painter and etcher, known for his landscapes and portraits.
4. Mostyn Uvedale Miller (1880-1959), a British army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valor in the British Armed Forces.
5. Mostyn Merridith (1905-1996), a Welsh actor and playwright, best known for his roles in films such as "The Blue Lamp" (1950) and "The Cruel Sea" (1953).
While the name Mostyn may have declined in popularity in recent times, it remains an integral part of Welsh cultural heritage and a testament to the rich history of the region.
People
Mostyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mostyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Mostyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mostyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mostyn 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Mostyn a common name?
We classify Mostyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mostyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Mostyn was 2001, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mostyn is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Mostyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mostyn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mostyn 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 Mostyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mostyn 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 Mostyn 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Mostyn?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.