Dilan
Meaning
variant of Dylan, Welsh for 'son of the sea'
The story
Dilan is a name where two traditions meet in one spelling. In Kurdish it comes from dil, heart, so Dilan reads as hearts, and it is also the name of the circle dance danced at Kurdish weddings, which folds in celebration. Separately, across the Spanish-speaking world and Turkey it is a much-loved spelling of Dylan, a Welsh name from dy, toward, and llanw, tide; its plain sense is the tide, and the sea it evokes comes from the Welsh legend of Dylan ail Don, not from the literal words. So depending on the family, Dilan holds the heart or the tide, and often a little of both. A current bearer is Dilan Yesilgoz, the Kurdish-born Dutch defence minister. It is said dee-LAHN, not like the Welsh Dylan. In the United States it is a recent arrival, climbing through the 2010s and 2020s. Heartfelt and modern, Dilan hands a child a name that means the heart in one language and the tide in another.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Dilan peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
1,829 people · the #5,445 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 111,111 · median age 6
Among people named Dilan living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 654 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Dilan
Most people given the name Dilan in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Dilan deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Dilan truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Dilan fits with your family’s names and surname.
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