Terrilyn
Feminine name combining "Terry" (from the French territory) and "lyn" (meadow).
Name Census estimates that about 776 living Americans carry the first name Terrilyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Terrilyn today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Terrilyn births was 1958 (60 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Terrilyn. 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
776
~ 1 in 441,694 Americans
Peak year
1958
60 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2011 SSA rank
#19,359
Tracked since 1946
Census
Terrilyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 878 people with the first name Terrilyn, which placed it at #13,660 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
#13,660
National first-name rank
People counted
878
878 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Terrilyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terrilyn is White at 49.5%. The next largest groups are Black (37.7%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Terrilyn 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 Terrilyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.5% · 435
- Black or African American37.7% · 331
- Two or more races4.2% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.1% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 15
Popularity
Terrilyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Terrilyn from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 286 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Terrilyn 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 Terrilyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Terrilyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Louisiana, Michigan, Texas recorded the most babies named Terrilyn, while New York, Mississippi, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Terrilyn
The name Terrilyn is a modern invented name that emerged in the 20th century. It is a combination of the English name Terri, which is a diminutive or nickname form of the feminine name Teresa, and the suffix -lyn, which is a common ending for English feminine names.
Teresa itself is derived from the Greek name Theresia, which comes from the Greek word "therizo" meaning "to harvest" or "to reap." The name Teresa has been in use since the Middle Ages and is associated with St. Teresa of Avila, a 16th-century Spanish mystic and reformer of the Carmelite Order.
The suffix -lyn is believed to have originated from the Old English word "lind," meaning "lime tree" or "linden tree." It became a popular ending for English feminine names, particularly in the 20th century, when names like Carolyn, Gwendolyn, and Marilyn gained popularity.
While the name Terrilyn does not have a long historical lineage, it reflects the trend of creating new names by combining existing name elements or adding popular suffixes to established names. This practice became more prevalent in the 20th century as parents sought to give their children unique and distinctive names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Terrilyn can be found in the 1940s and 1950s in the United States. However, it was not a widely used name until the latter half of the 20th century.
Some notable individuals with the first name Terrilyn include:
1. Terrilyn Monette (born 1966), an American country music singer and songwriter.
2. Terrilyn Rivers (born 1956), an American former basketball player who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics.
3. Terrilyn Kunopaski (born 1963), a Canadian former volleyball player and coach.
4. Terrilyn Van Gelder (born 1958), an American former professional tennis player.
5. Terrilyn Teel (born 1950), an American politician who served in the Missouri House of Representatives.
While the name Terrilyn is relatively modern and lacks a deep historical lineage, it reflects the creativity and individuality that characterized naming practices in the 20th century, as parents sought to give their children unique and distinctive names.
People
Terrilyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Terrilyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Terrilyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Terrilyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 776 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Terrilyn 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 441,694 US residents.
Is Terrilyn a common name?
We classify Terrilyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 930 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Terrilyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Terrilyn was 1958, when 60 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Terrilyn is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Terrilyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 878 people with the name Terrilyn, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,660 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 Terrilyn 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 Terrilyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Terrilyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 880 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Terrilyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Terrilyn is White at 49.5%. The next largest groups are Black (37.7%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Terrilyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Terrilyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.5% (435 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 Terrilyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Terrilyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Terrilyn 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 Terrilyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Terrilyn 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 Terrilyn 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 Terrilyn?
Want to know how many people share the name Terrilyn? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.