Paetyn
Unconventional spelling variant of the feminine name Payton, meaning "from the royal town".
Name Census estimates that about 1,080 living Americans carry the first name Paetyn. It is a predominantly female name (99.0% of registrations). The average person named Paetyn today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Paetyn births was 2011 (90 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Paetyn. 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
- • Paetyn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 317,365 Americans
Peak year
2011
90 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2014 SSA rank
#8,280
Tracked since 1996
Census
Paetyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 855 people with the first name Paetyn, which placed it at #13,939 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
#13,939
National first-name rank
People counted
855
855 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Paetyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paetyn is White at 76.1%. The next largest groups are Black (8.4%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Paetyn 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 Paetyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.1% · 651
- Black or African American8.4% · 72
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 58
- Two or more races6.4% · 55
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Paetyn
Paetyn leans heavily female at 99.0% of total registrations, but 11 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Paetyn as a male name
- Ranked #13,514 in 2014
- 5 male births in 2014
- Peak: 2013 (6 births)
Paetyn as a female name
- Ranked #8,280 in 2024
- 13 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (90 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Paetyn leans strongly female. 818 people counted with this name were female (95.3%), compared with 40 male bearers (4.7%).
Popularity
Paetyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Paetyn 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 605 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Paetyn 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 Paetyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Paetyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Texas, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Paetyn, while Washington, Utah, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Paetyn
The name Paetyn is a relatively modern invention, believed to have originated in the late 20th century as a feminine variation of the more traditional masculine name Payton. Its roots can be traced back to the Old English word "pæð," which means "path" or "track." This suggests that the name may have been intended to symbolize a journey or a path through life.
While there are no known historical records or ancient texts that mention the name Paetyn directly, the name does share some similarities with the Old English name Pæga, which was derived from the same root word "pæð." Pæga was a relatively uncommon name in Anglo-Saxon England, but it did appear in a few medieval chronicles and records.
The earliest recorded use of the name Paetyn is difficult to pinpoint, as it is a relatively modern coinage. However, some of the earliest known individuals with this name include Paetyn Leigh, an American actress born in 1990, and Paetyn Lexi Brooks, an American YouTuber and social media influencer born in 1998.
Throughout history, there have been a few notable individuals who have borne names similar to Paetyn. One such person was Payton Randolph (1779-1837), an American politician and statesman who served as the 13th Governor of Virginia. Another was Payton Skinner (1909-1986), an American blues singer and guitarist from Louisiana.
In more recent times, the name Paetyn has gained some popularity, particularly in the United States. Some notable individuals with this name include Paetyn Grillo, an American soccer player born in 2000, and Paetyn Lexi, an American social media influencer and YouTuber born in 2004.
While the name Paetyn is a relatively new addition to the lexicon of given names, its roots can be traced back to Old English, reflecting a connection to the concept of a journey or a path through life. Despite its modern origins, the name has already gained a small but notable following, with a handful of individuals bearing this unique and distinctive moniker.
People
Paetyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Paetyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Paetyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Paetyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,080 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Paetyn 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 317,365 US residents.
Is Paetyn a common name?
We classify Paetyn as "Rare". It ranks above 90.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,091 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Paetyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Paetyn was 2011, when 90 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Paetyn is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Paetyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 855 people with the name Paetyn, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,939 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 Paetyn 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 Paetyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Paetyn leans strongly female. 818 people counted with this name were female (95.3%), compared with 40 male bearers (4.7%). 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 Paetyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Paetyn is White at 76.1%. The next largest groups are Black (8.4%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Paetyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Paetyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.1% (651 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 Paetyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Paetyn a female name?
Yes, 99.0% of people registered as Paetyn in the SSA data are female. 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 Paetyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Paetyn 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 Paetyn 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 are named Paetyn?
Want to know how many Americans are named Paetyn? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.