Westyn
A variant spelling of the English surname meaning "west town".
Name Census estimates that about 2,923 living Americans carry the first name Westyn. It is a predominantly male name (93.1% of registrations). The average person named Westyn today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Westyn births was 2024 (339 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Westyn. 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
- • Westyn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.9K
~ 1 in 117,261 Americans
Peak year
2024
339 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#786
Tracked since 1989
Census
Westyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,428 people with the first name Westyn, which placed it at #9,647 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
#9,647
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,428 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Westyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Westyn is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.2%) and Two or More Races (6.2%). 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 Westyn 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 Westyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.5% · 1,207
- Hispanic or Latino6.2% · 89
- Two or more races6.2% · 88
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 21
- Black or African American1.1% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Westyn
Westyn leans heavily male at 93.1% of total registrations, but 204 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Westyn as a male name
- Ranked #786 in 2024
- 319 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (319 births)
Westyn as a female name
- Ranked #6,127 in 2024
- 20 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (22 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Westyn leans strongly male. 1,315 people counted with this name were male (92.2%), compared with 112 female bearers (7.8%).
Popularity
Westyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Westyn from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,379 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
Westyn 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 Westyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Westyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, Indiana recorded the most babies named Westyn, while North Dakota, Oregon, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 49 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Westyn
The name Westyn is a modern English name with origins that can be traced back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English words "west" and "tun," which together mean "west town" or "western village." This suggests that the name may have initially been used as a place name or a surname for someone who lived in a western settlement.
In the early medieval period, place names and descriptive surnames were often adopted as given names, particularly among the Anglo-Saxon populations of England. As such, Westyn may have transitioned from a locational surname to a personal name during this time.
There are no known historical references to the name Westyn in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in medieval English records and documents from the 13th and 14th centuries.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Westyn was a landowner and minor nobleman named Westyn de Burghley, who lived in the village of Burghley, Northamptonshire, England, in the late 13th century.
Another notable figure with the name Westyn was a monk and scholar named Westyn of Evesham, who resided at the Benedictine Abbey in Evesham, Worcestershire, England, in the early 14th century. He was known for his work in translating and transcribing ancient manuscripts.
In the 15th century, there was a merchant and trader named Westyn Broadcloth, who hailed from the city of Bristol and was involved in the lucrative wool trade with Continental Europe.
During the Tudor period in the 16th century, a courtier and diplomat named Westyn Throckmorton served under King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. He was dispatched on various diplomatic missions to France and Spain.
In the 17th century, a Puritan minister named Westyn Winthrop was among the early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in America. He established a church in the town of Ipswich and played a significant role in the religious and political life of the colony.
While the name Westyn has long been in use, it has remained relatively uncommon throughout history. Its modern popularity as a given name may be attributed to its unique sound and the trend of creating new names by combining elements from existing ones.
People
Westyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Westyn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Westyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Westyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,923 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Westyn 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 117,261 US residents.
Is Westyn a common name?
We classify Westyn as "Rare". It ranks above 95.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,945 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Westyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Westyn was 2024, when 339 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Westyn is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Westyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,428 people with the name Westyn, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,647 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 Westyn 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 Westyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Westyn leans strongly male. 1,315 people counted with this name were male (92.2%), compared with 112 female bearers (7.8%). 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 Westyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Westyn is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.2%) and Two or More Races (6.2%). 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 Westyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Westyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.5% (1,207 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 Westyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Westyn a male name?
Yes, 93.1% of people registered as Westyn 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 Westyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Westyn 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 Westyn 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 Westyn as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.