Skylar
Masculine · “scholar”
Skylar is given to both — 18,274 boys and 87,442 girls since 1880. See Skylar as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Skylar is a Dutch surname respelled, and Schuyler means a scholar — a schoolman, from the same Latin schola that gives school and scholar alike.
How old is the name Skylar?
Skylar first appears in US birth records in 1959 — 66 years ago. The typical Skylar alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 18,000 people named Skylar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Skylar most popular?
Skylar peaked in 2000, reaching #356 nationally. Today it ranks #1529, 1,173 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.
Skylar appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From schola to Skylar
The story of Skylar
Philip Schuyler was a Revolutionary general and one of New York's first senators, and his daughter married Alexander Hamilton. The surname passed into American given-name use, respelled as Skyler and Skylar. It rose for boys from the 1980s and for girls even faster from the 1990s; masculine Skylar is in current use.
Meaning
scholar, schoolman
From the Dutch schuyler, 'one who shelters' or, in the commoner reading, a form of schoolmeester's schuyler — a scholar. The Dutch surname Schuyler is documented in New Netherland records, and the English respelling follows the pronunciation exactly. The sky in the modern spelling is a coincidence.
How the name formed
- schola
- Schuyler
- Skyler
- Skylar
Related forms: Schuyler · Skyler · Schuyler
Pronouncing Skylar
SKY-lur
Two syllables, stress on the first. Skylar, Skyler and Schuyler are said identically.
Nicknames for Skylar
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
- 1959
- Most boys named
- 2001734 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #356reached in 2000
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%113 in 2025, from 113
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.
Skylar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Schuyler in Dutch — related form
- Skyler in English — spelling variant
- Schuyler in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Skylars among us
people named Skylar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 15,116 born in 2025 was named Skylar
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 Helen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Skylar's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Helen climbed just as high around 1903, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Helen's path sketches the road Skylar is walking now.
Skylar 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 Skylar is headed
Skylar is easing off slowly — about 19% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High 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.
Skylar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Skylar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The scholar meaning is transparent once the Dutch spelling is seen.
- A documented Revolutionary family stands behind it.
- Sky is a short, clean, immediately available form.
- The sky reading is a coincidence of respelling and is not the origin.
- It is thoroughly unisex in America and does not signal sex on paper.
- At least three spellings are in common use.
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What they receive
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Skylar
Masculine · #1529 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Skylars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 18,000 people named Skylar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Skylar in 2025?
- Skylar ranks #1529 among US boy names in 2025, with 113 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Skylar?
- About 1 in every 15,116 US boys born in 2025 was named Skylar — 113 in all.
- Will my child share the name Skylar with classmates?
- Skylar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Skylar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Indigo#1529 · Daylen#1529 · Terrell#1529 · Percival#1529 · Nestor#1529 · Manolo#1529 · Khari#1529 · Daryl#1529
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Skylar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Skylar and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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