Ailin
Feminine
Ailin is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,178 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Ailin arrives from three unrelated directions: a Chinese compound about love, an Irish name, and a Mapuche word from southern Chile. All three are real and none is dominant.
How old is the name Ailin?
Ailin first appears in US birth records in 1990 — 35 years ago. The typical Ailin alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 1,200 people named Ailin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ailin most popular?
Ailin peaked in 2012, reaching #2232 nationally. Today it ranks #3712, 1,480 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Ailin
Ours, offered as ours. Ailin is a good example of what happens when the world's naming traditions all reach for open, easy syllables. Chinese families build it from characters; Irish families arrived at the sound from Norman French by way of Eibhlín; Mapuche families in Chile have their own word. Three continents, one spelling, no borrowing between them. That convergence is more interesting than any one etymology and it is the honest thing to report.
Meaningnot established
Not established
There is no single source. Chinese Ailin joins characters for love and forest or jade. Irish Aileen is an anglicization of Eibhlín, whose own origin is disputed. Mapuche Ailín, used in Chile and Argentina, is generally glossed as clear or transparent. The three are unrelated.
Pronouncing Ailin
AY-lin
Two syllables, first stressed. Chinese and Mapuche usage both give ah-ee-LEEN, with three.
Nicknames for Ailin
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1990
- Most girls named
- 201284 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2232reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- +73.9%40 in 2025, from 23
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Ailin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ailin in Chinese — same name
- Aileen in Irish — related form
- Ailín in Mapuche — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Illinois.
Ailins among us
people named Ailin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 40,182 born in 2025 was named Ailin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ailin
- #3712
- Ailin on the 2025 chart
- #283
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ailin went to 40 girls in 2025, but Aylin, Ailyn and Ailynn and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,126, which makes it the 283rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,429 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,427 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 40,182 for Ailin itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Joelene test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ailin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Joelene climbed just as high around 1975, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Joelene's path sketches the road Ailin is walking now.
Ailin sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ailin is headed
Ailin should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Ailin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ailin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Five letters and two syllables, readable at sight in a great many languages.
- Lin is a complete name in its own right in more than one language.
- It belongs to three living traditions at once, which suits families with mixed heritage.
- The syllable count and stress differ between the three traditions.
- Aileen, Ailin and Ailyn are all in use and none is dominant.
- There is no single meaning, so the honest answer names several.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Ailin
Feminine · #3712 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ailins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Ailin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ailin?
- Ailin is one of 5 recorded spellings. Aylin is the more common one — 885 births in 2025 against 40 for Ailin.
- How popular is the name Ailin in 2025?
- Ailin ranks #3712 among US girl names in 2025, with 40 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ailin?
- About 1 in every 40,182 US girls born in 2025 was named Ailin — 40 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ailin with classmates?
- Ailin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ailin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Monet#3712 · Barrett#3712 · October#3712 · Aubrianna#3712 · Mishka#3712 · Berkleigh#3712 · Zailey#3712 · Ora#3712
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ailin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ailin and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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