Cutler
Masculine · “a maker of knives”
Cutler is a knife-maker. The trade had its own guild and its own quarter in medieval towns, and the word comes through French from the Latin for a blade — the same culter that named a plow's cutting iron.
How old is the name Cutler?
Cutler first appears in US birth records in 1985 — 40 years ago. The typical Cutler is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,000 people named Cutler are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cutler most popular?
Cutler peaked in 2014, reaching #2098 nationally. Today it ranks #3089, 991 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From culter to Cutler
The story of Cutler
Knife-making was a specialized trade with its own guilds, and in England it concentrated in Sheffield, where the Company of Cutlers was chartered in 1624 and the industry defined the city for three centuries. The surname is common in the English midlands and north for that reason. It reached America early and became a given name there recently, in the current wave of occupational surnames used at the front of the name alongside Cooper, Sawyer, Fletcher and Mason.
Meaning
a maker of knives
Old French coutelier, from Latin cultellarius, from culter — a knife, and also the cutting blade at the front of a plow. English took the word and the trade together. Cutlery comes from the same source. The reading is documented and about as plain as an occupational surname gets.
How the name formed
- culter
- coutelier
- Cutler
Related forms: Coutelier · Messerschmidt
Pronouncing Cutler
KUT-ler
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. There is no ambiguity in the sound; every English speaker says it correctly at first sight.
Nicknames for Cutler
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1985
- Most boys named
- 201466 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2098reached in 2014
- Change vs 2024
- −11.4%39 in 2025, from 44
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Cutler in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Coutelier in French — related form
- Messerschmidt in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee.
Cutlers among us
people named Cutler are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 43,797 born in 2025 was named Cutler
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Dallen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cutler's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dallen climbed just as high around 1999, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dallen's path sketches the road Cutler is walking now.
Cutler 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Cutler is headed
Cutler should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Cutler beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cutler in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented occupational surname with a clear and traceable trade behind it.
- Two syllables and phonetic spelling, with nothing silent to explain.
- Said and spelled correctly by every English speaker without being told.
- The first syllable is the word cut, which children will find.
- It is unmistakably a surname and will be read as one on forms.
- The trade association is with blades, which some families weigh.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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Cutler
Masculine · #3089 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cutlers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Cutler are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cutler in 2025?
- Cutler ranks #3089 among US boy names in 2025, with 39 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cutler?
- About 1 in every 43,797 US boys born in 2025 was named Cutler — 39 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cutler with classmates?
- Cutler will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cutler
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aadi#3089 · Wynston#3089 · Braelyn#3089 · Leopoldo#3089 · Zaedyn#3089 · Saxon#3089 · Rehan#3089 · Cree#3089
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cutler? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cutler and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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