Can it be true? Is the name Dylan popular because of the Beverly Hills 90210 character? The melancholy Dylan was a Beverly Hills 90210 hero. He was handsome, and he was fighting his demons, and he was everything you'd want your child to become...
Still, it's easy to dismiss the name due to the 90210 hero, but there must be more than a long-forgotten TV character for a name to be among the top 30 boys' names in the US 20 years after the show has ended.
Dylan is originally a Welsh name, roughly meaning Great Tide or Great Sea. Dylan Thomas, the poet, has popularized the name to a point, Bob Dylan made it more popular, and then came Beverly Hills 90210 and the character of Dylan McKay... Dylan reached the Top 100 in 1990, and has gained popularity, only to stay between the 20s and the 30s for roughly the last two decades.
It's also worth noting that the name has some popularity as a girl's name. There is nothing inherently masculine about the name, after all, and as far as boys' name that transform into girls' names, this one is probably one of the better ones.
2010 Update:
And... the name is out of the Top 30. For the first time in decades, the name is down to number 31.
