Dylan Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity, Boy Names Like Dylan

Dylan Name Origin: Welsh
Pronunciation: dill-an
See what 25 people think about Dylan

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Dylan Name Meaning

A name of persistent popularity, Dylan is a Welsh name meaning “born of the great sea.” His nautical ties are further strengthened by his use in Welsh mythology, appearing as a god of the sea. He’s a subtle choice for those looking to show their love of the ocean without being too obvious with names like Sailor or Tide.

The name has been a chart cruiser since his appearance in the 90s show Beverly Hills 90210, hovering in the U.S. Top 100 but never quite exploding in use, managing to avoid feeling trendy or overused. This sweet spot in popularity makes him ideal for many parents seeking a familiar name that isn’t heard constantly at the playground. He has a boy next door appeal that’s hard to replicate, a trait seen in similar names Ryan and Brandon.

Dylan has a lot in common with fellow Welsh name Owen, as he’s adventurous in spirit and teeming with youth. He has a wild side that lends well to a carefree childhood but also a maturity that carries him into adulthood.

Dylan does have some alternative spellings including Dillan and Dillon. He also has a few nicknames in Dill/Dyl and Dilly/Dylly.

Dylan Name Popularity

How popular is the name Dylan? Here’s everything we know.

Year	Rank	# Births	% Births
1910	—	0	0%
1911	—	0	0%
1912	—	0	0%
1913	—	0	0%
1914	—	0	0%
1915	—	0	0%
1916	—	0	0%
1917	—	0	0%
1918	—	0	0%
1919	—	0	0%
1920	—	0	0%
1921	—	0	0%
1922	—	0	0%
1923	—	0	0%
1924	—	0	0%
1925	—	0	0%
1926	—	0	0%
1927	—	0	0%
1928	—	0	0%
1929	—	0	0%
1930	—	0	0%
1931	—	0	0%
1932	—	0	0%
1933	—	0	0%
1934	—	0	0%
1935	—	0	0%
1936	—	0	0%
1937	—	0	0%
1938	—	0	0%
1939	—	0	0%
1940	—	0	0%
1941	—	0	0%
1942	—	0	0%
1943	—	0	0%
1944	—	0	0%
1945	—	0	0%
1946	—	0	0%
1947	—	0	0%
1948	—	0	0%
1949	—	0	0%
1950	—	0	0%
1951	—	0	0%
1952	—	0	0%
1953	—	0	0%
1954	—	0	0%
1955	—	0	0%
1956	—	0	0%
1957	—	0	0%
1958	1,522	5	0.0003%
1959	—	0	0%
1960	1,435	6	0.0003%
1961	1,631	5	0.0003%
1962	—	0	0%
1963	1,349	7	0.0004%
1964	1,251	11	0.0006%
1965	1,080	17	0.001%
1966	1,002	20	0.0013%
1967	868	33	0.0022%
1968	726	61	0.0041%
1969	515	182	0.0118%
1970	469	256	0.0161%
1971	521	200	0.0133%
1972	462	252	0.0185%
1973	472	231	0.0178%
1974	408	320	0.0246%
1975	369	407	0.0317%
1976	395	341	0.0265%
1977	348	481	0.0357%
1978	348	447	0.0332%
1979	310	594	0.0421%
1980	263	795	0.0544%
1981	280	700	0.0476%
1982	290	674	0.0451%
1983	264	743	0.0504%
1984	228	954	0.0641%
1985	187	1,326	0.0874%
1986	149	1,829	0.1212%
1987	141	1,995	0.1307%
1988	137	2,157	0.1384%
1989	115	2,854	0.1769%
1990	83	4,412	0.2662%
1991	46	9,761	0.5989%
1992	28	15,062	0.9436%
1993	32	12,688	0.8138%
1994	32	12,526	0.8162%
1995	34	12,088	0.8021%
1996	33	12,034	0.8037%
1997	30	12,968	0.8768%
1998	25	14,539	0.9714%
1999	23	15,979	1.067%
2000	24	15,401	1.0082%
2001	21	16,496	1.0948%
2002	23	14,819	0.9889%
2003	19	15,698	1.0319%
2004	19	14,847	0.9741%
2005	24	13,773	0.9008%
2006	26	13,166	0.8408%
2007	29	12,809	0.8118%
2008	31	11,699	0.7569%
2009	30	11,355	0.7597%
2010	31	10,510	0.7293%
2011	33	9,776	0.6862%
2012	31	9,982	0.7005%
2013	28	10,111	0.7102%
2014	29	10,403	0.714%
2015	27	10,274	0.7061%
2016	32	9,689	0.672%
2017	29	9,259	0.6634%
2018	31	8,538	0.6214%
2019	39	7,504	0.5543%
2020	42	6,701	0.5265%
2021	44	6,711	0.549%
2022	41	6,619	0.5017%

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Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like Dylan

If you like Dylan, you’ll love these other names like Dylan.

What names are variants of Dylan?

Mix it up with these names that are a variation of the name Dylan.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Dilan	Like a lion; loyal	Irish
Dillan	Like a lion; loyal; son of the sea	Welsh
Dillen	Like a lion; loyal	Irish
Dillon	Like a lion; loyal	Irish
Dylen	Uniter	Irish
Dylin
Dyllan	Son of the sea	Welsh
Dyllon	Like a lion; loyal; son of the sea	Welsh
Dyllun
Dylon	Like a lion; loyal; son of the sea	Welsh
Dylonn	Son of the sea	Welsh

What names sound like Dylan?

If you like how Dylan sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Dylan.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Dalan	Blind	Irish
Dannon	Form of Danson	American
Danon	From Denmark, Dane	English

Daylan		American
Delaney	From the alder grove	French
Dell	Small valley	English
Dilwyn	Genuine, Fair	Welsh
Dolan	Dark; bold; black-haired	Irish

What names are similar to Dylan?

Find a name that’s like Dylan, but just a little bit different.

Name	Meaning	Origin
Carter	Cart user	English
Conner	Dog lover	Irish
Ethan	Enduring and strong	Hebrew
Ewan	Born of yew; youth; God is gracious; born of yew; youth	Welsh
Henry	Home ruler	English
Ian	God is gracious	Scottish
John	God is gracious	Hebrew
Owen	Noble born	Welsh
Parker	Keeper of the park	English
Sean	God is gracious	Irish

Lists With Dylan

Find inspiration in these baby boy name lists featuring the name Dylan.

Siblings of Dylan

Mamas with kids named Dylan also have kids with these names.

Name	Meaning	Origin	Popularity	Other Gender

Devin	From dark-haired ones	Irish
Dalton	Valley town	English
Anthony	Unknown meaning	Latin
Braxton	Brock's town	English
Aspen	Aspen tree	English
Kevin	Handsome	Irish
Darius	Maintains possessions well	Persian
Boy
Matias	Gift of God	Portuguese
Lennon	Dear one	Irish
Ethan	Enduring and strong	Hebrew
Jade	Precious stone	English

Share Your Thoughts

25 Comments

Dylan Nov 21 at 11:08 am

I hate it

Reply
Dylan Morgan Aug 31 at 4:44 pm

It is a cool name with a greater meaning. It helps knowing what you’re name means and where your name originated and what your ancestors used to do.

Reply
Amber Mar 19 at 12:01 pm

My husband had lost his father last year and this baby was a surprise baby. He was due around what would have been his Poppy’s birthday and one of Poppy’s favorite singers was Bob Dylan. So Dylan would be his first name and his middle name Michael is for the brother my husband lost before he was born. We alsp have a 2 year old son named Lennon after John Lennon for a similar reason. I loved the name as soon as my husband suggested it. The only issue I had with it, was that I have a cousin who’s daughter is also named Dylan.

Reply
Joselin Feb 23 at 7:56 pm

Dylan name is so beautiful and short to right

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Stella Rodrigues Dec 15 at 7:17 am

He is calm

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Lakeisha Nov 29 at 10:31 am

I came up with the name Dylan because it unique

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Sabeth Nov 22 at 1:05 am

Well mine is kinder unique,,I chose the name Dyillen for my boy and i love it aloot for it goes well with Darliah??

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Melanie Oct 13 at 6:16 am

My husband chose the name Dylan because I chose our daughters name. I love that his nickname is Dily!

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Tamela Jul 6 at 9:11 am

I love my baby boy ?

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Noemi Jun 15 at 12:18 pm

Dear Noemi ,
Regarding your nursing concern :
Get a can of powdered Brewers Yeast or powdered Tigers Milk . Add a couple scoops to milk and blend, it tastes awful but you’ll make enough breast milk for triplets . In the old days nursing mothers knew to drink beer when it was made with Brewes Yeast , the beer would relax the mother so the milk would let down and the brewers yeast would make plenty of quality breast milk. We’ve all been through rough times with nursing but you can do this. God bless and good luck.
Sri

Reply
Quandale Dingle Apr 23 at 5:04 pm

N/A

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Noemi Mar 28 at 8:15 am

Im sad because i wanted to breastfeed and already tried all type of teas, oats, not produccing milk just 3 to 4 0z

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Vukona Mar 2 at 5:56 am

I chose Dylan Because his my first son and a choose one
His the only thing that brightens my day and give me hope and courage

Reply
Michelle Mar 1 at 10:29 am

I’ve always loved the name Dylan. When I fell pregnant a year after my mom’s passing. I wanted a name that would honour her. Dylan came to me,it’s the syllables of my mom’s name swapped around….Lin-da and Dy-lan. Also we scattered my mom’s ashes in the ocean and his name means from ocean. It’s like son is a gift from my mom

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Alliston Apr 12 at 11:35 am

I’ve always loved the name Dylan for a boy and his older brother is named Devon so we ( my husband & I) wanted to keep the “D” theme going. My two boys share the same initials as well (DAR- Devon Alexander & Dylan Anthony) and were just about the same birth weight and length!! Devon was 7 lbs, 14oz, 21.5 inches, Dylan was 7 lbs, 13 oz, 22 inches!!

Reply
DORYN Feb 7 at 6:24 am

Am Christian and dad is Islamic needed a name that can cut across.

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Dallas Oct 24 at 11:45 pm

His name means ‘son of the sea’ in Welsh. We just really like the name and it seems to fit him well. He really enjoys bath time!

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Zulma Aug 25 at 11:20 am

My family and i looked into baby boy names and DYLAN came up we thought it was a really cute name for our newborn

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Lannie Jan 20 at 10:15 am

We picked his name after his 2 uncle’s

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Jewels Stinnett Dec 1 at 3:46 pm

I choose it so my fiance can have his dj the name we picked is my fiancees name

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Letty Nov 5 at 5:03 pm

Dylan Mckay from Beverly Hills 90210

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Shae Williamson Aug 17 at 12:43 pm

I had learned about my second pregnancy pretty far along so I almost knew right away that he was going to be a boy? But even though I knew he was a boy, it took me until looking into his little eyes before he got the name Dylan Justice! Just like my first child, I had the middle name picked out early, well I let his dad choose the middle name. I had looked through so many baby name books and had quite a few written down, but just couldn’t settle on “the one”. I liked Nathan, Zachary, and a couple others. Then I ended up going into preterm labor and was in the hospital without a definite name chosen ? It took a split second of snuggling after his birth when I looked at him and the the name just came out! He was a Dylan and I could feel it. I love my now 9 yr old Dylan Justice so very much ?

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Ana Aug 13 at 4:57 pm

Unique ?

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Kat Aug 2 at 9:46 pm

Hes 10 and is one of a kind. Loves to sing.

Reply
Taaka Phionah Apr 22 at 12:42 pm

I just liked the name because it sounds good. No particular reason why I chose it but I have read about it’s origin.

Reply

Dylan