Welsh dy, "great", and llanw, "tide, flow" — son of the sea. A sea god in the Mabinogi; Bob Dylan took the name from the poet Dylan Thomas.
Dylan ranks 41st among American boys in 2025, with 6,546 born that year. Its best year was 2001, when 16,696 babies were given the name, ranking 21st. The typical living American called Dylan is about 21 years old today. It is relatively most common in District of Columbia, where it accounts for 0.51% of births.
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state name files, 2025 release, and the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales. Etymology researched and written by our editors. Living-population and median-age figures are our own estimates, described in the methodology.