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Wayland

#2,301 in 2025Boys' name

Possibly craft, cunning

Wayland has been given to 4,220 babies in the U.S. since 1884. In 2025 it ranked #2,301 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 64 recorded.

Babies named Wayland, 2025

1 in 54,300

Wayland over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Wayland: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly craft, cunning

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Wayland means

Wayland may mean “craft, cunning”.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,220 boys were recorded with the name Wayland between 1884 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 64 in 2023; its best national rank was #782 in 1912.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,803 in 2020 to #2,301 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #3,019 in 2015 to #2,301 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Wayland?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 54,300
61 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 28,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,301
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
37,672 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Wayland 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 2025 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 37,672 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Wayland. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Waylands were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Wayland was born before 1958 — so the typical Wayland is around 67 today.

Median birth year
1958
About 67 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
11.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
17.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,445
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 11.4% of all recorded uses (482).

Is Wayland 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
+853
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,502
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+718
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.56×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
95.3%
Peak was 2023 (64)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
42.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#782
1912

Spellings of Wayland

Wayland is not the most common spelling — Waylon is, with 40.6% against Wayland's 3.1%.

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.

Where Wayland is used

Across 1910–2025, Wayland was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 20,000 boys, against 1 in 74,003 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

05 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 20,000
  2. 2North Carolina1 in 33,333
  3. 3Oklahoma1 in 50,000
  4. 4California1 in 100,000
  5. 5New Mexico1 in 100,000
  6. 6Tennessee1 in 100,000
  7. 7Virginia1 in 100,000
  8. 8Alabama1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Wayland has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Wayland around the world

Where Wayland ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • South Australia
    2001–2001
    #581
    in 2001

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Wayland

People whose public names include Wayland, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Wayland by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,301
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,502
Best rank ever
#782
1912
Peak year
2023
64 that year
First recorded
1884
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,220
Count in 2025
61

Names similar to Wayland

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

WaymonWaylenRowlandLeelandHollandHarlandWaylanRollandWaydeWaymondOaklandWaymanCortlandZealandNormandCourtlandArlandNolandGarlandRaylandWaylinRylandLeilandNeyland

Names with a curve like Wayland

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Wayland, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

LovellDeltonHoseaClarkeRichmondRefugioGennaroLouWillianPrenticeGlendonEvans

Sibling names for Wayland

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 Wayland

Top names of 2023, Wayland's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1912Boys' names starting with W