Calyn
Feminine
Calyn is given to both — 727 girls and 93 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Calyn is recorded for boys and girls alike and has no documented parent. Its first syllable is shared with a Roman word for the first day of the month, which was also, and not coincidentally, the day the money was owed.
How old is the name Calyn?
Calyn first appears in US birth records in 1981 — 44 years ago. The typical Calyn alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 700 people named Calyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Calyn most popular?
Calyn peaked in 1997, reaching #3365 nationally. See the whole 1997 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Calyn
The Roman calends was the first day of the month, announced publicly by a priest, and it was the day on which interest fell due and accounts were settled. The register of those payments was a calendarium, an account book, and that is where the English word calendar comes from: not from the moon or the seasons but from bookkeeping. Roman writers use going to the calends as a way of saying paying up. The Greeks had no calends, which is why the emperor Augustus is quoted as saying that somebody would pay on the Greek calends, meaning never, which is the ancient equivalent of a cold day in a warm place.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Cullen, Caelan and Kalyn have all been offered and none is documented. The record holds this spelling for both sexes and explains neither.
Pronouncing Calyn
KAY-lin
Two syllables with the stress in front. KAL-in, with a short first vowel, is also heard.
Nicknames for Calyn
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
- 1981
- Most girls named
- 200235 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3365reached in 1997
- Change vs 2021
- −33.3%6 in 2024, from 9
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.
Calyn in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Georgia.
Calyns among us
people named Calyn are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Calyn sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Cal and Lyn are both available as short forms and both work on their own.
- It is short on paper and quick for a child to learn to write.
- It is recorded for boys and for girls, so it leaves a question open rather than closing it.
- Two readings of the first vowel are in circulation and the spelling settles neither.
- Kalyn, Caelan and Cullen are all in the record and will be confused with it.
- No origin is documented, so the meaning question has nothing to answer with.
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Calyn
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Calyns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Calyn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Calyn in 2025?
- Calyn is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Calyn with classmates?
- Calyn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Carol#2239 · Cynthia#1013 · Catherine#313 · Christine#1272 · Carolyn#1222 · Christina#770 · Charlotte#2 · Cheryl#4352
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Calyn? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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