Shalyn
A feminine name of Celtic origin meaning "from the old path".
Name Census estimates that about 1,921 living Americans carry the first name Shalyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shalyn today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shalyn births was 2000 (98 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shalyn. 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
1.9K
~ 1 in 178,425 Americans
Peak year
2000
98 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2018 SSA rank
#15,380
Tracked since 1966
Census
Shalyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,760 people with the first name Shalyn, which placed it at #8,278 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
#8,278
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,760 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shalyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shalyn is White at 66.3%. The next largest groups are Black (16.8%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Shalyn 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 Shalyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.3% · 1,167
- Black or African American16.8% · 295
- Two or more races7.0% · 124
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 114
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 24
Popularity
Shalyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shalyn from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 676 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shalyn 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 Shalyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shalyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Shalyn, while West Virginia, Utah, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 20 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shalyn
The name Shalyn is a modern English variant of the name Shayla or Shaylyn, which is derived from the Hebrew name Shailah, meaning "to ask" or "to question." The name Shailah itself is a feminine form of the Hebrew name Shalom, meaning "peace."
Shalyn is a relatively new name that first emerged in the late 20th century, primarily in English-speaking countries. While the name does not have a long historical lineage, it reflects the growing popularity of combining traditional names with modern spellings and variations.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shalyn can be found in the United States in the late 1970s. However, it did not gain widespread use until the 1990s and early 2000s.
Although the name Shalyn does not have a rich historical background, there are a few notable individuals who have carried this name throughout the years. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Shalyn was Shalyn Brewer, an American actress born in 1980, known for her roles in television shows such as "ER" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
Another notable individual named Shalyn was Shalyn Maher, an Australian professional basketball player who played for the Canberra Capitals in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) during the early 2000s.
In the field of literature, Shalyn Lyons is an American author and poet, known for her works exploring themes of identity, relationships, and self-discovery. She has published several collections of poetry and prose.
Shalyn Woodley is a Canadian actress and model, known for her roles in television shows and movies such as "The Lying Game" and "The Arrangement." She was born in 1991.
Shalyn Malone is an American entrepreneur and business executive, currently serving as the Chief Marketing Officer for a technology company based in Silicon Valley. She has been recognized for her contributions to the tech industry and her advocacy for diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
While the name Shalyn is relatively modern and does not have a long historical trail, it has gained popularity in recent decades, reflecting the ever-evolving nature of names and the influence of different cultures and languages on naming traditions.
People
Shalyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shalyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Shalyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shalyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,921 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shalyn 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 178,425 US residents.
Is Shalyn a common name?
We classify Shalyn as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,992 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shalyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Shalyn was 2000, when 98 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shalyn is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shalyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,760 people with the name Shalyn, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,278 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 Shalyn 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 Shalyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shalyn leans strongly female. 1,726 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 34 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Shalyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shalyn is White at 66.3%. The next largest groups are Black (16.8%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Shalyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shalyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.3% (1,167 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 Shalyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shalyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shalyn 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 Shalyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shalyn 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 Shalyn 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 called Shalyn?
You can see how many Americans are named Shalyn on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.