Nylan
Unusual blend name of unknown meaning and origin.
Name Census estimates that about 639 living Americans carry the first name Nylan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Nylan today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nylan births was 2024 (54 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nylan. 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.
People living today
639
~ 1 in 536,392 Americans
Peak year
2024
54 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,510
Tracked since 1999
Census
Nylan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 407 people with the first name Nylan, which placed it at #23,894 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
#23,894
National first-name rank
People counted
407
407 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
76.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nylan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nylan is Black at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.1%) and White (7.6%). 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 Nylan 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 Nylan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American76.9% · 313
- Hispanic or Latino9.1% · 37
- White7.6% · 31
- Two or more races4.7% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Nylan
Nylan leans heavily male at 83.7% of total registrations, but 105 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Nylan as a male name
- Ranked #2,510 in 2024
- 54 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (54 births)
Nylan as a female name
- Ranked #10,123 in 2023
- 10 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2005 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nylan on both sides of the split. Of the 408 people counted with this name, 312 were male (76.5%) and 96 were female (23.5%).
Popularity
Nylan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nylan 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 291 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nylan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nylan 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 Nylan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nylans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. North Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia recorded the most babies named Nylan, while Ohio, South Carolina, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nylan
The given name Nylan is of uncertain origin and meaning, with few records of its historical usage or significance. It is believed to be a modern invented name, possibly derived from a combination of syllables from various languages or created as a unique name without any specific linguistic roots.
While there are no definitive records of the name's origin, some researchers suggest that it may have been influenced by the Gaelic name Niall, which means "champion" or "cloud." However, this connection is tenuous and unconfirmed.
The earliest documented use of the name Nylan is relatively recent, with no known references in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records prior to the 20th century. This suggests that the name is a modern invention, possibly created as a unique and distinctive name in the last century or so.
In terms of notable individuals bearing the name Nylan, there are few prominent figures throughout history. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name is Nylan Vance, an American architect born in 1923, known for his contributions to mid-century modern design.
Another individual named Nylan is Nylan Pearson, an Australian professional rugby league player who played for the Parramatta Eels in the 1990s and early 2000s.
In the field of music, there is Nylan Miller, an American singer-songwriter and record producer who has collaborated with various artists in the hip-hop and R&B genres.
Nylan Banegas is a Honduran professional footballer who currently plays as a defender for Olimpia, one of the top clubs in the Honduran national league.
Lastly, Nylan Alejandro is a Venezuelan-born artist and painter known for his abstract expressionist works, which have been exhibited in galleries across Latin America and Europe.
While the name Nylan is relatively uncommon and its origins remain uncertain, these individuals have contributed to various fields, carrying this unique name throughout different parts of the world in recent times.
People
Nylan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nylan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nylan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nylan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 639 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nylan 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 536,392 US residents.
Is Nylan a common name?
We classify Nylan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 644 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nylan most popular?
The single biggest year for Nylan was 2024, when 54 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nylan 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 Nylan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 407 people with the name Nylan, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,894 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 Nylan 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 Nylan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nylan on both sides of the split. Of the 408 people counted with this name, 312 were male (76.5%) and 96 were female (23.5%). 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 Nylan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nylan is Black at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.1%) and White (7.6%). 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 Nylan most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nylan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.9% (313 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 Nylan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nylan a male name?
Yes, 83.7% of people registered as Nylan 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 Nylan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nylan 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 Nylan 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 have the name Nylan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.