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Lyon

Masculine · “fortress of Lugh”

1947high 2024
#2480 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare54 boys in 2025

Lyon is the French city, named Lugdunum for the Celtic god Lugh — the fortress of Lugh.

How old is the name Lyon?

Lyon first appears in US birth records in 1947 — 78 years ago. The typical Lyon is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Lyon are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Lyon most popular?

Lyon peaked in 2024, reaching #1891 nationally. Today it ranks #2480, 589 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.

Compare this nameMore “L” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Lyon

Lugdunum was the capital of Roman Gaul, named for the Celtic god Lugus and a fort — dunum. The city became Lyon. Separately, the French lion is a surname and a heraldic byname. Both routes reach American records, where Lyon is in current use.

Meaningscholars disagree

fortress of Lugh; lion

Two routes. The French city Lyon, from the Roman Lugdunum — generally read as the fort of the Celtic god Lugus, though a word for a raven is also proposed. Or the French lion, from the Latin leo. Both feed the modern name.

How the name formed

  1. Lugdunum
  2. Lyon

Related forms: Lyon · Lyons · Lion

Pronouncing Lyon

LY-un

Two syllables, stress on the first. French Lyon is one nasalised syllable.

Nicknames for Lyon

Moderate

LyThe front sound alone, used inside families rather than generally
LeoA related name by meaning, with a large record of its own
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

BOYS NAMED · 1947–202584420845419472025

US babies named Lyon per year from 1947 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#18911940s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1947
Most boys named
202484 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#1891reached in 2024
Change vs 2024
−35.7%54 in 2025, from 84
Lyon sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2024, with 84 boys. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Lyon in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Lyon in French — same name
  • Lyons in English — related form
  • Lion in English — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, New York.

Lyons among us

900

people named Lyon are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 boy in 31,631 born in 2025 was named Lyon

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Lyon

#2480
Lyon on the 2025 chart
#837
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Lyon went to 54 boys in 2025, but Lion is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 91, which makes it the 837th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,643 places above the chart.

  • Lyon54
  • Lion37

About 1 boy in 18,770 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 31,631 for Lyon 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

III

Is it right for you

The Ovidio test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lyon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ovidio climbed just as high around 1966, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ovidio's path sketches the road Lyon is walking now.

40%chance Lyon will feel “very 2020s” by 2040
Lyon, aligned on its peakOvidio· peak 1966not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+60 yrsOvidio · #4361Lyon today
Lyon today is about where Ovidio stood in 1967 — 1 year past a #1891-sized peak. By 1982, Ovidio had settled around #3726.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Lyon 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 Lyon is headed

19472030

US babies named Lyon per year, 1947 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Lyon looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.

Rising+19% by 2030projected around #2,330 in 2030

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.

Lyon beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Lyon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Lyonthis name54#2480Arya54#2480Kaeson54#2480Demian54#2480Marion54#2480

US boys given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • That the city is named for a Celtic god's fortress is a first-rate etymology.
  • The lion reading is strong where it holds.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk in English.
What to consider
  • It is a French city name and reads as one.
  • French and English say it entirely differently.
  • Lion and Lyon are homophones in English.

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What they receive

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Lyon

Masculine · #2480 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Lyons 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 Lyon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Lyon?
Lyon is the most-used spelling in US records — 54 of the 91 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Lion.
How popular is the name Lyon in 2025?
Lyon ranks #2480 among US boy names in 2025, with 54 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Lyon?
About 1 in every 31,631 US boys born in 2025 was named Lyon — 54 in all.
Will my child share the name Lyon with classmates?
Lyon will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Lyon

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Arya#2480 · Kaeson#2480 · Demian#2480 · Marion#2480 · Florian#2480 · Niles#2480 · Hardy#2480 · Caine#2480

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lyon? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Lyon and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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