Orlin
A name of Slavic origin meaning "young eagle" or "little eagle".
Name Census estimates that about 724 living Americans carry the first name Orlin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Orlin today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Orlin births was 1932 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Orlin. 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 Orlin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
724
~ 1 in 473,418 Americans
Peak year
1932
48 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,277
Tracked since 1908
Census
Orlin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,509 people with the first name Orlin, which placed it at #9,282 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
#9,282
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,509 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
63.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Orlin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orlin is Hispanic at 63.2%. The next largest groups are White (30.9%) and Black (3.0%). 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 Orlin 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 Orlin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino63.2% · 953
- White30.9% · 467
- Black or African American3.0% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 21
- Two or more races1.3% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 3
Popularity
Orlin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Orlin from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 360 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Orlin 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 Orlin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Orlins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Texas recorded the most babies named Orlin, while Kansas, South Dakota, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Orlin
The name Orlin is of Slavic origin, derived from the Bulgarian and Macedonian word "орел" (orel), meaning "eagle." It is believed to have emerged in the region of present-day Bulgaria and Macedonia during the Middle Ages.
The name is thought to have been inspired by the majestic and powerful eagle, a symbol of strength, courage, and freedom in Slavic cultures. It was likely given to newborn boys with the hope that they would grow up to embody these qualities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Orlin can be found in the 14th-century Bulgarian epic poem "The Marvellous Deeds of the Prince of Bulgaria Shishman." In this work, Orlin is mentioned as one of the warriors in the army of Tsar Ivan Shishman, the ruler of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Orlin. One of the most famous was Orlin Gragev (1889-1972), a Bulgarian composer and conductor who made significant contributions to the development of Bulgarian classical music.
Another prominent figure was Orlin Stanchev (1908-1983), a Bulgarian politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria from 1962 to 1971 and played a crucial role in shaping the country's foreign policy during the Cold War era.
In the world of literature, Orlin Vasilev (1904-1977) was a celebrated Bulgarian writer and poet, known for his works that explored themes of love, nature, and the human condition.
In the realm of sports, Orlin Norvatov (1946-2003) was a Bulgarian wrestler who won a gold medal in the heavyweight category at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
Beyond Bulgaria, the name Orlin has also been used in other Slavic countries, albeit less frequently. For instance, Orlin Kruševac (born 1932) is a Serbian architect and urban planner who has made significant contributions to the design and development of cities in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia.
People
Orlin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Orlin as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with O
Other first names starting with O with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Orlin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Orlin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 724 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Orlin 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 473,418 US residents.
Is Orlin a common name?
We classify Orlin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,660 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Orlin most popular?
The single biggest year for Orlin was 1932, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Orlin is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Orlin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,509 people with the name Orlin, or 0.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,282 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 Orlin 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 Orlin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Orlin leans strongly male. 1,475 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 31 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Orlin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Orlin is Hispanic at 63.2%. The next largest groups are White (30.9%) and Black (3.0%). 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 Orlin most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Orlin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.2% (953 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 Orlin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Orlin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Orlin 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 Orlin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Orlin 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 Orlin 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 Orlin?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.