Name Awesome

Ceylon

Boys' name

Place name used as a given name; older meaning unconfirmed

Ceylon has been given to 86 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1931, with 9 recorded.

Babies named Ceylon, 1947

1 in 720,000

Ceylon over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02.557.51018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ceylon: meaning, origin, and history

Place name used as a given name; older meaning unconfirmed

place names

What Ceylon means

Ceylon comes from a place name.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Borrowed from Portuguese Ceilão, from Old French Seilan (Marco Polo), from Persian سیلان (saylān), ultimately from Pali sīhaḷa, from Sanskrit सिंहल (siṃhala). Doublet of Sinhala.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Ceylon (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Ceylon is used in English. Its origins include place names.

Ceylon comes through Old French Seilan, Persian سیلان, Pali sīhaḷa and Sanskrit सिंहल.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Ceylon is pronounced /seɪˈlɑn/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 86 boys were recorded with the name Ceylon between 1880 and 1947. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1931; its best national rank was #935 in 1880.

How common is Ceylon?

Ceylon had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1947, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1947
1 in 720,000
5 of 3,602,100 births
Among boys only
1 in 366,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 1947
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
499,358 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ceylon sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1947 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 499,358 children born in 1947 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ceylon. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ceylons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ceylon was born before 1920 — so the typical Ceylon is around 105 today.

Median birth year
1920
About 105 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
40.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
38.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
0
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 40.7% of all recorded uses (35).

Is Ceylon rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1931 (9)
Years since peak
94
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
25.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#935
1880

Spellings of Ceylon

Ceylon is not the most common spelling — Waylon is, with 33.2% against Ceylon's 0.05%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Ceylon by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#935
1880
Peak year
1931
9 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
1947
All-time count
86
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Ceylon

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

CallonTaelonAvalonKhylonQuaylonKailonKallonKhalonKellonMaylonDevlonBurlonKeelonBaylonJahlonTrelonZylonKarlonShalonOdilonBralonKeylonDraylonXylon

Sibling names for Ceylon

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Ceylon

Top names of 1931, Ceylon's peak yearThe 1930s in fullOther names that peaked in 1880Boys' names starting with C