Glynn
Masculine · “valley”
Glynn is given to both — 4,943 boys and 417 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Glyn is the Welsh word for a valley, and it is one of the small number of Welsh common nouns that became personal names — alongside Gwyn for white and Bryn for hill. The doubled n in this spelling is English; Welsh spells it with one, and Welsh has firm rules about which consonants it doubles and when.
How old is the name Glynn?
Glynn first appears in US birth records in 1902 — 123 years ago. The typical Glynn alive today was born around 1950, making them about 75 years old. About 2,600 people named Glynn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Glynn most popular?
Glynn peaked in 1950, reaching #595 nationally. See the whole 1950 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From glyn to Glynn
The story of Glynn
Welsh naming has a small group of names taken directly from landscape words — Glyn a valley, Bryn a hill, Nant a stream, Rhys is a different matter — and they read in Welsh as plainly as Brook or Dale read in English. Glyn became a given name in Wales and traveled to America with Welsh emigration, particularly to the coalfields of Pennsylvania and Ohio. The doubled n is an English spelling habit that Welsh would not use, and it is the only thing distinguishing the two versions.
Meaning
valley
Welsh glyn is a valley, particularly a deep and narrow one, and it appears across the Welsh map — Glyndyfrdwy, the valley of the Dee, gave Owain Glyndwr his name. The derivation is not disputed. The word is related to the English glen, which came into English from Gaelic rather than Welsh; the two Celtic branches have the same word and English borrowed it twice.
How the name formed
- glyn
- Glynn
Related forms: Glyn · Gleann
Pronouncing Glynn
GLIN
GLIN, one syllable, rhyming with tin — the Welsh y in a final syllable is a short i. There is no other reading in either language, and the doubled n changes nothing.
Nicknames for Glynn
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
- 1902
- Most boys named
- 1950131 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #595reached in 1950
- Change vs 2015
- 0.0%5 in 2019, from 5
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.
Glynn in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Glyn in Welsh — same name
- Gleann in Scottish Gaelic — related form
Glynns among us
people named Glynn 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
Glynn 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
- The Welsh word behind it is concrete and still in everyday use in the language.
- One syllable and five letters, unambiguous in sound.
- It goes to either child, which landscape names generally do.
- Glyn with one n is the Welsh spelling and this one will be corrected toward it by anyone who knows the language.
- It is easily confused with Glenn, which comes from Gaelic rather than Welsh and means the same thing.
- The name is strongly associated with the middle of the last century in America.
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Glynn
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Glynns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Glynn are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Glynn in 2025?
- Glynn is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Glynn with classmates?
- Glynn will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More G names
The most-given names starting with G, all years combined.
George#126 · Gary#1073 · Gregory#593 · Gerald#1204 · Gabriel#37 · Glenn#1443 · Gavin#303 · Gordon#1051
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Glynn? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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