Pamelyn
A feminine name blending "Pamela" with Evelyn, meaning "all honey" and "life".
Name Census estimates that about 100 living Americans carry the first name Pamelyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Pamelyn today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pamelyn births was 1972 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pamelyn. 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
100
~ 1 in 3,427,543 Americans
Peak year
1972
13 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
1979 SSA rank
#11,403
Tracked since 1951
Popularity
Pamelyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pamelyn from the 1950s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 63 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
Pamelyn 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 Pamelyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pamelyn
The given name Pamelyn is a variant spelling of the English name Pamela, which ultimately derives from the Greek name Παμέλα (Pamela). This Greek name is thought to be a compound word formed from the elements παν (pan) meaning "all" and μέλι (meli) meaning "honey". As such, the name Pamelyn could be interpreted as meaning "all honey" or "totally sweet".
The name Pamela has its roots in ancient Greek mythology and literature. In the pastoral romance work Daphnis and Chloe written by the 2nd century AD Greek novelist Longus, one of the principal characters is a young woman named Παμέλα (Pamela). This may have been the first known use of the name in literature, though its origins likely extend back further into antiquity.
One of the earliest recorded real-life instances of the Pamela name dates to around the 16th century in England. Pamela Naunton was an English courtier born around 1556 who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I. She never married and died sometime before 1591.
In the 18th century, the name received a boost in popularity after the publication of Samuel Richardson's 1740 novel Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded. The titular heroine's name choice inspired many parents to use it for their daughters.
Some other notable individuals named Pamelyn or the variant Pamela throughout history include:
Pamela Colman Smith (1878-1951), British artist best known for illustrating the Rider-Waite tarot deck.
Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman (1920-1997), English socialite and writer who was married to Winston Churchill's son and later a U.S. diplomat.
Pamela Franklin (born 1950), English actress who starred in films like The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and The Legend of Hell House.
Pamelyn Ferdin (born 1959), American former child actress known for voicing Lucy Van Pelt in Peanuts specials and films.
Pamela Tiffin (1942-2023), American model and actress who starred in films like State Fair and Harper.
People
Pamelyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pamelyn 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
Pamelyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pamelyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 100 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pamelyn 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 3,427,543 US residents.
Is Pamelyn a common name?
We classify Pamelyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 118 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pamelyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Pamelyn was 1972, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pamelyn is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Pamelyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Pamelyn 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.
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.