Head to head · Boys' names
Taylor vs Tommy
#683 vs #657 in 2025
Tommy is ahead (#657 vs #683 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Tommy is holding its place on the charts, Taylor is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Tommy leads 4 measures of 6; Taylor leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Taylor #331, Tommy #671 — Taylor higher
- 1890s: Taylor #359, Tommy #505 — Taylor higher
- 1900s: Taylor #422, Tommy #328 — Tommy higher
- 1910s: Taylor #514, Tommy #350 — Tommy higher
- 1920s: Taylor #646, Tommy #219 — Tommy higher
- 1930s: Taylor #717, Tommy #98 — Tommy higher
- 1940s: Taylor #737, Tommy #76 — Tommy higher
- 1950s: Taylor #783, Tommy #102 — Tommy higher
- 1960s: Taylor #775, Tommy #118 — Tommy higher
- 1970s: Taylor #581, Tommy #161 — Tommy higher
- 1980s: Taylor #179, Tommy #229 — Taylor higher
- 1990s: Taylor #74, Tommy #299 — Taylor higher
- 2000s: Taylor #216, Tommy #422 — Taylor higher
- 2010s: Taylor #438, Tommy #683 — Taylor higher
- 2020s: Taylor #631, Tommy #713 — Taylor higher
Tommy stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Taylor has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Taylor | Tommy |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #331 | #671 |
| 1890s | #359 | #505 |
| 1900s | #422 | #328 |
| 1910s | #514 | #350 |
| 1920s | #646 | #219 |
| 1930s | #717 | #98 |
| 1940s | #737 | #76 |
| 1950s | #783 | #102 |
| 1960s | #775 | #118 |
| 1970s | #581 | #161 |
| 1980s | #179 | #229 |
| 1990s | #74 | #299 |
| 2000s | #216 | #422 |
| 2010s | #438 | #683 |
| 2020s | #631 | #713 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Taylor
Not charting outside the US.
Tommy
- Scotland#26
- England & Wales#39
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Taylor
tailor — one who cuts cloth
From Old French tailleur, from Latin taliare, 'to cut'.
taliare (Latin) → tailleur (Old French) → taillour / Taylor (Middle English surname) → Taylor (given name)
How it traveled
Taylor is one of the great English occupational surnames, recorded from the medieval period onward for the tailor — the cutter of cloth — and it comes through Old French tailleur from the Latin verb taliare, 'to cut'. Like Riley, Parker and Harper, it made the ordinary English journey from trade to family name to given name, a pattern that has fed first names steadily for generations.
Tommy
twin
Thomas comes from Aramaic te'oma, 'twin'. The Gospel of John glosses the apostle's name with the Greek Didymos, which also means twin.
Te'oma → Thomas → Tom → Tommy
How it traveled
Thomas reached Europe as the name of one of the twelve apostles, and the Gospel of John twice explains it for Greek readers as 'the twin'. It was rare in England until the murder of Thomas Becket in the twelfth century made his shrine at Canterbury one of the great pilgrimage sites of Christendom, after which Thomas became one of the most common men's names in the language.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Taylor
TAY-lur
Stress on the first syllable. One pronunciation everywhere in English; the only real variation is how fully the final -er is sounded.
- Tay — The standard informal short form for either sex; also used on its own in casual writing.
- Tay-Tay — Playful, family-and-friends register; used mostly for girls.
- T — Initial-only nickname, common among schoolmates and teammates.
Tommy
TOM-ee
Stress on the first syllable. One of the rare English names almost no one has to ask about twice, in speech or in spelling.
- Tom — The shorter clip, used both as a nickname for Tommy and as a standalone given name in its own right.
- Tommo — Informal, chiefly British, Irish and Australian; common on sports fields and among friends rather than family.
- Thomas — Works in reverse: many boys registered as Thomas go by Tommy, so the full form is often available as the formal option.
- Tam — The Scottish clip of Thomas, still heard in Scotland; used informally and sometimes as a name on its own.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Taylor if you want…
- a name fewer children share#683 in 2025 — taylor will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name past its most crowded yearsTaylor is stepping back from its peak
- a name that feels very nowTaylor is stepping back from its peak
Choose Tommy if you want…
- a name most people already know#657 in 2025, 420 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 87 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooTommy is on the national lists of Scotland and England & Wales
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 75% for Taylor
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Taylor
Strengths
- Spelling and pronunciation are already known to everyone in English — no repeating, no correcting on the phone.
- Works for a boy or a girl with no change of form, and reads the same on a class list either way.
- A documented word history going back through Old French to Latin, unbroken and easy to explain to a child.
To consider
- The girls' side is much the larger one now, so a boy named Taylor will meet the occasional assumption on paper before people meet him. It is easily corrected, and the boys' use is genuinely older than the girls'.
- There are a great many adult Taylors, clustered in one broad generation — the name may read to some ears as belonging to grown-ups rather than to children, though that has ceased to be true of new classrooms.
- Tayler and Taylah exist as spellings, so the occasional form will come back needing a fix.
Tommy
Strengths
- Everyone already knows how to spell it and how to say it, on both sides of the Atlantic.
- Comes with a ready ladder of registers: Thomas for a diploma, Tommy day to day, Tom in one syllable.
- Unbroken presence in American records from the beginning of the count to now, without a fashionable spike to date it.
To consider
- It reads as informal. Some parents register Thomas and use Tommy at home, which keeps a more formal option in reserve for adult life; if you register Tommy, that option isn't there.
- It is strongly represented among older generations, so it may be heard as a name from an earlier era before it is heard as a small boy's name.
- There are stray associations in English: the Thompson submachine gun was nicknamed the tommy gun, British soldiers of the First World War were Tommies, and the surname turns up on clothing labels. None of them tend to attach to an actual person for long.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Taylor
75%chance Taylor feels dated by 2040
Taylor is coming down from a big peak (#51 in 1993). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Tommy
40%chance Tommy feels dated by 2040
Tommy sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Taylor and Tommy in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Taylor and Tommy?
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Taylor and Tommy — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Taylor or Tommy — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Taylor or Tommy?
- Tommy, in 2025: Tommy ranked #657 with 420 babies; Taylor ranked #683 with 398 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Taylor or Tommy?
- Tommy. Over the last five years Taylor moved down 90 places; Tommy moved up 87 places.
- Which is the older name, Taylor or Tommy?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Taylor and Tommy?
- About 106,000 people named Taylor are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 117,000 people named Tommy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Taylors or Tommys in the classroom?
- Taylor will almost certainly be the only one in school. Tommy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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