Raylan
Feminine
Raylan is given to both — 586 girls and 6,856 boys since 1880. See Raylan as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Raylan has a book and a television series behind it. Elmore Leonard created a deputy marshal named Raylan Givens in 1993; the series Justified put him on American television from 2010, and the name appears in the birth records almost immediately afterwards, peaking on girls in 2015. Names from single characters usually rise and fall this sharply.
How old is the name Raylan?
Raylan first appears in US birth records in 2001 — 24 years ago. The typical Raylan is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Raylan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Raylan most popular?
Raylan peaked in 2015, reaching #3001 nationally. Today it ranks #5917, 2,916 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ray to Raylan
Our story of Raylan
Fiction supplies names to real children constantly, but the transfer usually needs two conditions, and Raylan met both. First, the name must be plausible: it has to sound like it could already exist, or parents will not risk it. Raylan does — Ray is ordinary, -lan is ordinary, and the join is one that American naming makes all the time. Second, the character has to be someone people want their child associated with, which is a lower bar than it sounds but not a trivial one. Leonard's marshal is a laconic, competent Kentuckian, and the name carries that. What is unusual here is the documentation: most names have to be traced backwards through centuries of drift, and this one has a first appearance in print, a date, and an author. Very few names in the American record are that legible.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No documented source. Raylan is not attested before Elmore Leonard used it, and the author did not explain the choice. Structurally it is Ray plus the -lan ending found in Dylan, Harlan and Nolan, and Ray itself has real ancestries — from Raymond, from the French roi, 'king', or from an English surname. None of that reaches Raylan by any traceable route. The name is a modern invention with a known first appearance, which is rare and useful.
How the name formed
- Ray
- Raylan
Pronouncing Raylan
RAY-lun
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the ending reduced to a schwa. The spelling is unambiguous and English readers produce it correctly on sight.
Nicknames for Raylan
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
- 2001
- Most girls named
- 201557 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3001reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- −37.5%20 in 2025, from 32
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.
Raylan in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Georgia, Texas, California.
Raylans among us
people named Raylan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 80,363 born in 2025 was named Raylan
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Damara test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Raylan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Damara climbed just as high around 1980, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Damara's path sketches the road Raylan is walking now.
Raylan 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
Raylan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Raylan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ray and Rae are both complete names available as short forms.
- The pronunciation is obvious from the spelling.
- Its origin is unusually well documented for a modern name — an author and a date.
- The television association is specific and strong for anyone who watched the series.
- It is far more common on boys, so forms will often assume male.
- There is no meaning to give when someone asks.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Raylan
Feminine · #5917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Raylans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Raylan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Raylan in 2025?
- Raylan ranks #5917 among US girl names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Raylan?
- About 1 in every 80,363 US girls born in 2025 was named Raylan — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Raylan with classmates?
- Raylan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Raylan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elda#5917 · Saloma#5917 · Fawn#5917 · Sarafina#5917 · Jaymie#5917 · Jania#5917 · Kimberlynn#5917 · Patsy#5917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Raylan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Raylan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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