Berlyn
Feminine
Berlyn is given to both — 937 girls and 87 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Berlyn looks like the German capital with an American ending, and if it is, the city's name is worth knowing: it is Slavic, not German, and it has nothing to do with bears. The bear on Berlin's coat of arms is a folk etymology, adopted centuries after the fact because the name sounded as though it should mean one. Berlyn's American peak is 2004.
How old is the name Berlyn?
Berlyn first appears in US birth records in 1928 — 97 years ago. The typical Berlyn alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 900 people named Berlyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Berlyn most popular?
Berlyn peaked in 2004, reaching #3071 nationally. Today it ranks #6116, 3,045 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Where it comes from
From Berlin to Berlyn
Our story of Berlyn
Folk etymology is not a mistake so much as a process, and Berlin's bear is a good example of it working. The city's name came from Slavic speakers and meant, most probably, a swamp. German speakers arriving later heard the first syllable as Bar, their word for a bear, and by the thirteenth century a bear was on the city's seal. It has been there ever since, on the flag, on the film festival's award, on tourist merchandise. The etymology is wrong and the bear is entirely real — it has been part of the city's identity for eight hundred years, which is considerably longer than most correct etymologies have been known. That is worth remembering when a name's meaning turns out to be invented: the invention often becomes a fact of a different kind, and it does not stop being true that people believed it.
Meaningnot established
Not established
If the name comes from the city, the city's own name is most likely from a West Slavic root berl or birl meaning a swamp or marshy place, with a Slavic suffix — the area was settled by Slavs before German expansion, and marshy ground is an accurate description. The bear reading is folk etymology, based on the resemblance to German Bar. As an American given name, Berlyn is equally likely to be a Ber- front joined to the -lyn ending, in which case it means nothing at all.
How the name formed
- Berlin
- Berlyn
Related forms: Berlin · Berlynn
Pronouncing Berlyn
BER-lin
Two syllables, stress on the first, which is how English says the city. German stresses the second, ber-LEEN. American bearers overwhelmingly use the front-stressed version.
Nicknames for Berlyn
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
- 1928
- Most girls named
- 200954 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3071reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- −9.5%19 in 2025, from 21
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.
Berlyn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Berlin in English — spelling variant
- Berlynn in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Berlyns among us
people named Berlyn are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was named Berlyn
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Berlyn
- #6116
- Berlyn on the 2025 chart
- #890
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Berlyn went to 19 girls in 2025, but Berlin and Berlynn are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 70, which makes it the 890th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,226 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 22,961 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 84,593 for Berlyn 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 Rainbow test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Berlyn's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rainbow climbed just as high around 1980, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rainbow's path sketches the road Berlyn is walking now.
Berlyn 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
Berlyn beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Berlyn in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Lyn is a complete traditional name available as a short form.
- The pronunciation is obvious to any English reader.
- The city's real Slavic etymology is a genuinely good story to have.
- It is heard as the city first by almost everyone.
- Berlin, Berlyn and Berlynn all circulate, so records will drift.
- The -lyn ending dates the name closely to the 1995-2020 window.
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What they receive
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Berlyn
Feminine · #6116 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Berlyns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Berlyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Berlyn?
- Berlyn is one of 3 recorded spellings. Berlin is the more common one — 39 births in 2025 against 19 for Berlyn.
- How popular is the name Berlyn in 2025?
- Berlyn ranks #6116 among US girl names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Berlyn?
- About 1 in every 84,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Berlyn — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Berlyn with classmates?
- Berlyn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Berlyn
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alvina#6116 · Mena#6116 · Harvey#6116 · Kellie#6116 · Alden#6116 · Jeanna#6116 · Sammi#6116 · Mamie#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Berlyn? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Berlyn and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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