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I like it...for a girl.

My niece is Raelynn and a second cousin's daughter is Rayleigh, and there were lots of girls born around then with Ray/ Rae at the beginning. So to me, any modern Ray- Rae- name is feminine. Raylan, however, looks like a synthetic fabric, nylon, rayon. So for me, it's a bad name.

It's not my thing, seems too trendy, but what I do like about it is that it instantly made me think "raglan," and I like that image. All basebally.

My first thought was it was the next in line to Ryan, Riley, Ryland, Rylan...Raylan. Because of that I couldn't use it. It is a cute name and sounds really fun with the mn James. I see it more of a girls name, though, probably because I have a young cousin named Rylen.

When my sister's friend was pregnant, she really wanted to name her daughter Raylen but her family vetoed it. That was about five years ago. I liked it at first, but not anymore.

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Here are my impressions:
-Not a male name.
-The spelling is bad
-Way too trendy what with all the Jaydens, Braedans, and other horrible names in the world.
-Never saw Justified (not my type of show) so I don't have that association--which is good, for me.

If you love it, use it. It's not my style, but it's easy for a kid to pronounce and spell and there's nothing really wrong with it. I like Ray - it's a bit dated, maybe, but it's cheerful and positive. James is nice and makes a handsome middle name.

I didn't know it was common, I've never met one.

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To be honest, I don't really like it. It looks a bit made up and the Y in the middle looks kind of awkward.

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I love James though!

I only know of this name and it's many variants as a female name, not a male name. I don't like it for a boy at all, sorry. How about using just Ray instead? That works much better imo.

It sounds like a synthetic fabric, with all the disadvantages of rayon and nylon plus a pair of RayBans. It is a mismatch with the timeless James. If you love it - I know nothing about the TV show - I suggest that you would do your child a favour by reversing the order: James Raylan. The mn position is good for family names or personal favourites which wouldn't quite do for daily use.

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Very common? I've never heard it before. Would you use Ray as a nn? If so, perhaps Raymond would be worth considering.

I dislike it. I don't think it sounds particularly masculine (it sounds super unisex to me which I dislike in a name) and it just has a trendy sound to it. There might not be heaps of Raylans running around but between the Rylans, Jaylan/Jaylyns, Cailans, Ryans etc, it just sounds like it is fitting a trend.

I like the name Ray and the -an ending trend so Raylan should have a pretty good chance with me.

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My first impression of it, is that it sounds a little bit like a brand name (a la Raytheon?); and it sounds a lot like Raelyn - which is a similar kind of name but usually used for girls. And it might evoke the character really strongly, for those familiar with him. Those things would bother me too much, personally, for me to use it, even if it were my favorite name.

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It's not my style, it doesn't really impress me. But I think it's usable and there is nothing really bad about it. It sounds pretty nice, and can be shortened to Ray. It's easy to pronounce and would seem pretty normal, like it could be a surname name. So, eh. I think it's okay.

Typo in my original message, it should say I know the name is NOT very common.

Do you know anything about the etymology or history of the name? It's not in our database.