Rylan
A masculine name derived from the red woodland dye called "rilan".
Name Census estimates that about 39,794 living Americans carry the first name Rylan. It sits at #371 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 84.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Rylan today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Rylan births was 2011 (3,164 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Rylan. 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 Rylan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Rylan 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
40K
~ 1 in 8,613 Americans
Peak year
2011
3,164 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#371
Tracked since 1968
Census
Rylan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 31,155 people with the first name Rylan, which placed it at #1,228 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
#1,228
National first-name rank
People counted
31K
31,155 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Rylan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rylan is White at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.9%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Rylan 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 Rylan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.3% · 23,461
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 2,467
- Two or more races6.9% · 2,138
- Black or African American5.9% · 1,827
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 882
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 380
Gender
Gender distribution for Rylan
Rylan leans heavily male at 84.0% of total registrations, but 6,434 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Rylan as a male name
- Ranked #371 in 2024
- 882 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (2,766 births)
Rylan as a female name
- Ranked #1,135 in 2024
- 213 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (398 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rylan leans strongly male. 26,435 people counted with this name were male (84.8%), compared with 4,727 female bearers (15.2%).
Popularity
Rylan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Rylan 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 20,562 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
Rylan 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 Rylan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Rylans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Rylan, while Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 747 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Rylan
The name Rylan is a modern English given name with uncertain origins. Some sources suggest it may be a variant spelling of the Irish name Rylann, which is derived from the Gaelic words "rí" meaning king and "lann" meaning land or territory. However, there is no definitive evidence of its precise roots.
Many believe Rylan emerged as a creative combination of popular names like Ryan and Dylan in the late 20th century. While its exact beginnings are unclear, the name gained popularity in the United States and other English-speaking countries in recent decades.
There are no known historical references or ancient texts that mention the name Rylan specifically. Its modern usage seems to be a relatively recent phenomenon, likely influenced by the growing trend of creating unique and inventive names during the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Rylan dates back to the late 1970s, when a handful of children were given this name in the United States. However, it remained relatively uncommon until the early 2000s when its popularity began to rise steadily.
While there are no famous historical figures specifically named Rylan, here are five notable individuals who have carried this name in modern times:
1. Rylan Clark (born 1988), an English television presenter and model.
2. Rylan Sexton (born 1991), an American professional ice hockey player.
3. Rylan Ferrier (born 1994), a Canadian professional ice hockey player.
4. Rylan Schwartz (born 1991), a Canadian professional ice hockey player.
5. Rylan Milligan (born 1996), an American professional soccer player.
As a relatively new name, Rylan's history and origins remain somewhat ambiguous, but it has gained a foothold in popular culture and continues to be used as a unique and modern choice for baby names in various parts of the world.
People
Rylan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Rylan 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
Rylan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Rylan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 39,794 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Rylan 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 8,613 US residents.
Is Rylan a common name?
We classify Rylan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 40,187 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Rylan most popular?
The single biggest year for Rylan was 2011, when 3,164 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Rylan 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 Rylan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 31,155 people with the name Rylan, or 10.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,228 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 Rylan 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 Rylan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Rylan leans strongly male. 26,435 people counted with this name were male (84.8%), compared with 4,727 female bearers (15.2%). 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 Rylan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Rylan is White at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.9%) and Two or More Races (6.9%). 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 Rylan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Rylan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.3% (23,461 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 Rylan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Rylan a male name?
Yes, 84.0% of people registered as Rylan 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 Rylan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Rylan 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 Rylan 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 Rylan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.