Lyn

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Lynn in US United States, GB United Kingdom, AU Australia and 8 more, Celina in BR Brazil, AR Argentina, MX Mexico and 4 more, Celine in FR France, NO Norway, BE Belgium and 2 more and Lan in VN Vietnam, MY Malaysia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Lyn is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name96K records spelled Lyn2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Lÿn

• Spanish given name89K records spelled Lyn19 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Philippines, United States, France, Brazil

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French

  Also written Lÿn, Lýñ, Lyń, Lyñ, Lŷn

• Indonesian given name12K records spelled Lyn6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, United States

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Ľýņ, Ļyn, Ĺýñ, Ļýņ

• Swahili given name5.2K records spelled Lyn4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Kenya, United Kingdom

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho

  Also written Lÿñ

• Azerbaijani given name3.0K records spelled Lyn5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Türkiye, United Kingdom

  Languages: Azerbaijani, Turkish

  Also written Lyñ, Ĺýñ

• Khmer given name1.8K records spelled Lyn2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Philippines, United States, China, Malaysia

  Also written Lÿn

• Greek given name1.6K records spelled Lyn9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, China

  Also written Lynn, Lynne, Lin, Linn, Λιν

57 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Lyn is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• probably an altered form of Dutch van der Li(j)n (see Vanderlinden 3).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• unexplained.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• 1 (m.) Welsh: short form of LLEWELLYN. 2 (f.) English: variant of LYNN . Top

  as a word

• ISO 639-3 language code for Luyana.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Welsh, soft mutation of glyn

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 107 years between 1896–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Lyn Hardingb. 1867GBBritish actor (1867-1952)
• Lyn Murrayb. 1909GBEnglish-born American composer of music for radio, film and television (1909–1989)
• Lyn Ashleyb. 1940AUAustralian actress
• Janis Joplinb. 1943USnot in their usual nameAmerican singer (1943–1970)
• Lyn Evansb. 1945GBWelsh physicist
• Lyn Collinsb. 1948USAmerican musician (1948–2005)
• Sunita Williamsb. 1965USnot in their usual nameAmerican astronaut and USN officer
• Anastaciab. 1968USnot in their usual nameAmerican singer
• Tara Strongb. 1973CAnot in their usual nameCanadian-American actress
• Kate Lyn Sheilb. 1985USAmerican actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 424 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Lyn?

We estimate roughly 493 thousand people bear Lyn (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Lyn have the most bearers?

Lyn is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled lynn.

How common is Lyn compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Lyn is the 52nd most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Lyn a male or female name?

Lyn is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Lyn mean?

Recorded meaning: Alternative form of linn (“waterfall”).