Wayland
Masculine
Wayland is the smith of Germanic legend — a lamed craftsman who took a terrible revenge and escaped by flying.
How old is the name Wayland?
Wayland first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Wayland alive today was born around 1958, making them about 67 years old. About 2,500 people named Wayland are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Wayland most popular?
Wayland peaked in 1912, reaching #765 nationally. Today it ranks #2284, 1,519 places below that high. See the whole 1912 chart.
Where it comes from
From Weland to Wayland
The story of Wayland
Weland is hamstrung by a king to keep him working, kills the king's sons, makes cups of their skulls, and escapes on wings he forges himself — a story carved on the Franks Casket and told in the Poetic Edda. Wayland's Smithy is a Neolithic long barrow in Oxfordshire named for him. It appears in American records in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The Old English Weland and Old Norse Völundr have no settled etymology; proposals connect the first element to a root meaning 'craft' or 'battle'. The land element may be a later reshaping. The figure is documented across Germanic literature; the name's meaning is not.
How the name formed
- Weland
- Wayland
Related forms: Völundr · Wieland · Weyland
Pronouncing Wayland
WAY-lund
Two syllables, stress on the first. German Wieland is VEE-lahnt.
Nicknames for Wayland
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
- 1884
- Most boys named
- 202364 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #765reached in 1912
- Change vs 2023
- −4.7%61 in 2025, from 64
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.
Wayland in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Völundr in Old Norse — related form
- Wieland in German — related form
- Weyland in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Michigan.
Waylands among us
people named Wayland are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 28,001 born in 2025 was named Wayland
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Wayland 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 Wayland is headed
Wayland should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Wayland beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Wayland in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That a Neolithic barrow is named for him is a first-rate fact.
- The Franks Casket carving is a genuine surviving artifact.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The name's own meaning is genuinely unrecovered.
- The legend's revenge is extremely grim.
- Wayland and Weyland are both in circulation.
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What they receive
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Wayland
Masculine · #2284 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Waylands are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,500 people named Wayland are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Wayland in 2025?
- Wayland ranks #2284 among US boy names in 2025, with 61 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Wayland?
- About 1 in every 28,001 US boys born in 2025 was named Wayland — 61 in all.
- Will my child share the name Wayland with classmates?
- Wayland will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Wayland
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carsyn#2284 · Aman#2284 · Zacari#2284 · Abbas#2284 · Sulayman#2284 · Quade#2284 · Bruin#2284 · Flint#2284
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Wayland? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Wayland and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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