Raylyn
A feminine name derived from combining Ray and Lyn, meaning "meadow of brightness".
Name Census estimates that about 1,159 living Americans carry the first name Raylyn. It is a predominantly female name (92.9% of registrations). The average person named Raylyn today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Raylyn births was 2013 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Raylyn. 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
- • Raylyn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 295,733 Americans
Peak year
2013
70 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2021 SSA rank
#4,007
Tracked since 1963
Census
Raylyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 977 people with the first name Raylyn, which placed it at #12,661 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
#12,661
National first-name rank
People counted
977
977 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Raylyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raylyn is White at 60.6%. The next largest groups are Black (16.5%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Raylyn 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 Raylyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.6% · 592
- Black or African American16.5% · 161
- Hispanic or Latino9.3% · 91
- Two or more races8.0% · 78
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.9% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 27
Gender
Gender distribution for Raylyn
Raylyn leans heavily female at 92.9% of total registrations, but 84 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Raylyn as a male name
- Ranked #11,811 in 2021
- 6 male births in 2021
- Peak: 2013 (10 births)
Raylyn as a female name
- Ranked #4,007 in 2024
- 37 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (63 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Raylyn leans strongly female. 866 people counted with this name were female (88.6%), compared with 111 male bearers (11.4%).
Popularity
Raylyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Raylyn from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 577 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Raylyn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Raylyn 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 Raylyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Raylyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Raylyn, while North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Raylyn
The name Raylyn is a relatively modern invention, believed to have originated in the late 20th century as a combination of the names Ray and Lynne. It does not have a clear linguistic or cultural origin, but rather seems to be a creative blend of existing names.
Despite its recent origins, there are a few notable historical figures who have borne the name Raylyn. One of the earliest recorded instances is Raylyn Moore, an American actress born in 1972, who appeared in several television shows and films in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Another notable Raylyn is Raylyn Frazer, a Canadian singer-songwriter born in 1985, who has released several albums and gained recognition in the Canadian music scene.
In the field of sports, there is Raylyn Nkhata, a Malawian footballer born in 1990, who has played for various clubs in Malawi and South Africa.
Moving back in time, there is Raylyn Williamson, an American artist and illustrator born in 1943, known for her intricate pen-and-ink drawings and woodcut prints.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Raylyn is Raylyn Boggs, an American writer and poet born in 1920, whose work focused on themes of nature and spirituality.
While the name Raylyn may lack a deep historical lineage, its modern usage has provided a unique identity to those who bear it, and it has started to carve out its own place in the annals of history.
People
Raylyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Raylyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Raylyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Raylyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,159 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Raylyn 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 295,733 US residents.
Is Raylyn a common name?
We classify Raylyn as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,177 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Raylyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Raylyn was 2013, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Raylyn is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Raylyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 977 people with the name Raylyn, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,661 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 Raylyn 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 Raylyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Raylyn leans strongly female. 866 people counted with this name were female (88.6%), compared with 111 male bearers (11.4%). 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 Raylyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Raylyn is White at 60.6%. The next largest groups are Black (16.5%) and Hispanic (9.3%). 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 Raylyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Raylyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.6% (592 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 Raylyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Raylyn a female name?
Yes, 92.9% of people registered as Raylyn 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 Raylyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Raylyn 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 Raylyn 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 Raylyn?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Raylyn, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.