Head to head · Boys' names
Taylor vs Trevor
#683 vs #679 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Trevor is a whisker ahead (#679 vs #683 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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, Trevor leads 3 measures of 6; Taylor leads 2.
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, Trevor — — Taylor higher
- 1890s: Taylor #359, Trevor — — Taylor higher
- 1900s: Taylor #422, Trevor — — Taylor higher
- 1910s: Taylor #514, Trevor #2453 — Taylor higher
- 1920s: Taylor #646, Trevor #2632 — Taylor higher
- 1930s: Taylor #717, Trevor #2045 — Taylor higher
- 1940s: Taylor #737, Trevor #1533 — Taylor higher
- 1950s: Taylor #783, Trevor #1151 — Taylor higher
- 1960s: Taylor #775, Trevor #567 — Trevor higher
- 1970s: Taylor #581, Trevor #193 — Trevor higher
- 1980s: Taylor #179, Trevor #117 — Trevor higher
- 1990s: Taylor #74, Trevor #64 — Trevor higher
- 2000s: Taylor #216, Trevor #111 — Trevor higher
- 2010s: Taylor #438, Trevor #282 — Trevor higher
- 2020s: Taylor #631, Trevor #543 — Trevor higher
Taylor stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Trevor has held the lead since the 1960s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Taylor | Trevor |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #331 | — |
| 1890s | #359 | — |
| 1900s | #422 | — |
| 1910s | #514 | #2453 |
| 1920s | #646 | #2632 |
| 1930s | #717 | #2045 |
| 1940s | #737 | #1533 |
| 1950s | #783 | #1151 |
| 1960s | #775 | #567 |
| 1970s | #581 | #193 |
| 1980s | #179 | #117 |
| 1990s | #74 | #64 |
| 2000s | #216 | #111 |
| 2010s | #438 | #282 |
| 2020s | #631 | #543 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
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.
Trevor
Big settlement
From Welsh Trefor, from tref, 'homestead, town', and mawr, 'big'.
Trefor → Trevor
How it traveled
In Johannesburg in the 1950s the English priest Trevor Huddleston, who fought apartheid from the township of Sophiatown, gave a schoolboy called Hugh Masekela his first trumpet; Masekela became one of the great jazz musicians of Africa, and Louis Armstrong later sent the school band another. In 1945 Trevor Howard played the doctor in David Lean's Brief Encounter, who falls in love with a married woman at a railway station and lets her go.
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.
Trevor
TREV-er
Two syllables with the stress on the first.
- Trev — The usual short form.
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…
- plenty of nickname options3 recorded short forms — Tay, Tay-Tay and T
- a long American recordTaylor was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Trevor if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsTrevor is stepping back from its peak
- a name that stays wholeone recorded short form for Trevor (Trev)
- a newer arrivalTrevor entered the US charts in 1915
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.
Trevor
Strengths
- Instantly recognized and spelled as everyone expects.
- A settled Welsh meaning.
- Comes with Trev as a ready short form.
To consider
- It was very common a generation ago, so it reads as a name of that era.
- In Britain it can sound more middle-aged than it does in America.
- For a girl it would be very unusual.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Trevor 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 Trevor?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- One-decade wonders
- Names that belong entirely to the 1990s
- Names ending in -or
- The best baby names starting with T
- all guides
Every list here names both Taylor and Trevor — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Taylor or Trevor — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Taylor or Trevor?
- Trevor, in 2025: Trevor ranked #679 with 400 babies; Taylor ranked #683 with 398 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Taylor or Trevor?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Taylor moved down 90 places; Trevor moved down 273 places.
- Which is the older name, Taylor or Trevor?
- Taylor was already in use when US records began in 1880; Trevor entered the US charts in 1915. On the American record, Taylor is the older name.
- How many people are named Taylor and Trevor?
- About 106,000 people named Taylor are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 155,000 people named Trevor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Taylors or Trevors in the classroom?
- Taylor will almost certainly be the only one in school. Trevor will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Taylor, Trevor and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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