Emlyn

Emlyn for boys

Emlyn was one of the seven ancient districts of Wales and while it may lean feminine to American ears - perhaps as a spelling variant of Emmeline - there are plenty of masculine namesakes, including footballers Emlyn Williams, Emlyn Hughes and Emlyn Mulligan, Welsh Physicist Emlyn Rhoderick, and Emlyn A.G Watkins, a police officer awarded for bravery. Writer Jenny Nimmo also used it in her novel, Emlyn's Moon.

2023 saw a number of vintage rarities coming back into style in the US, and Emlyn was one of them. Used on more than 5 boys for the first time in a century, perhaps it could fit in with other rising choices like Ephraim and Ellis.

Emlyn for girls#9649 US

As a girl name, Emlyn is likely to be a contracted form of Emmeline or Emmalyn, appealing to those who like drop the middle sound of the aforementioned names, and want something concise, stripped back, and contemporary looking on paper. In this case, Emlyn could mean "rival" from Emmeline or "universal lake, universally pretty" from Emmalyn (if you consider it a smoosh name).

More traditionally, however, Emlyn is a masculine Welsh name, combining the elements em and glyn meaning "around the valley" (or possibly from llyn, giving it the meaning "around the lake").

In the US, it was given to 10 girls in a recent year.