Tyler
Masculine · Latin roots · “tile maker”
Tyler is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 603,970 boys against 17,523 girls since 1880. See Tyler as a girl name
Tyler began as a job description: the man who laid the tiles. It rode into English surnames in the Middle Ages, sat on a rebel leader's name in 1381, and centuries later crossed over into first-name use in America — one syllable of trade, one of ease, and easy to say on the first try.
How old is the name Tyler?
Tyler was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Tyler alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 586,000 people named Tyler are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tyler most popular?
Tyler peaked in 1993, reaching #5 nationally. Today it ranks #219, 214 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Where it comes from
From tegula (Latin) to Tyler
The story of Tyler
Tyler is an English occupational surname, given to men who made or laid roof tiles — the word traces back through Old French to the Latin tegula. It is recorded in medieval England, most famously in Wat Tyler, who led the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Like many English surnames, it was later adopted as a given name in the United States, helped along by the American habit of naming children after statesmen's surnames — John Tyler held the presidency in the 1840s. From there it settled in as a first name in its own right, and has stayed one, borne today by figures such as the filmmaker Tyler Perry and the musician Tyler Joseph.
Meaning
tile maker; one who lays tiles or bricks
From Middle English tyler, tiler, ultimately from Latin tegula, 'roof tile'. A straightforward occupational surname, like Baker or Fletcher.
Cultural footprint
Tyler Perry (b. 1969) — Built a film empire from his Madea plays
Tyler Joseph (b. 1988) — Twenty One Pilots frontman
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- tegulaLatin
- tieule / tuileOld French
- tyler / tilerMiddle English occupation
- TylerEnglish surname
- Tylergiven name
Related forms: Tylor · Tiler · Tyla · Тайлер · タイラー
Pronouncing Tyler
TY-lur
Two syllables, stress on the first, rhyming with 'miler'. English speakers essentially never get it wrong on sight, and the spelling follows the sound.
Nicknames for Tyler
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 199329,800 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #5reached in 1993
- Change vs 2022
- −28.0%1,633 in 2025, from 2,268
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.
Tyler in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tylor in English — spelling variant
- Tiler in English — spelling variant
- Tyla in English — related form
- Тайлер in Russian — transliteration
- タイラー in Japanese — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Tylers among us
people named Tyler are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,046 born in 2025 was named Tyler
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 Joseph test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tyler's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Joseph climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Joseph's path sketches the road Tyler is walking now.
Tyler is coming down from a big peak (#5 in 1993). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Tyler is headed
Tyler is easing off slowly — about 16% 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.
Tyler beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tyler in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelling and pronunciation match: English speakers read it correctly the first time and spell it correctly after hearing it once.
- A ready-made short form in Ty, in real use for generations and sturdy enough to stand alone.
- A documented English surname reaching back to the Middle Ages, with a plain occupational meaning anyone can explain in a sentence.
- Travels well phonetically — the sounds exist in most languages, so it survives being said by non-English speakers.
- Its big wave has passed, so most Tylers walking around are grown men rather than children. A baby Tyler may read as slightly older than his classmates' names for a while — though that gap tends to close as a generation ages.
- Tylor and Tylar exist, so the occasional spelling check happens, even though Tyler is the form nearly everyone assumes.
- Ty is shared with Tyson, Tyrone and Tyree, which can mean a moment of sorting out in a group.
- It has had modest use for girls in the US as well, as surnames often do — worth knowing, though the record here is overwhelmingly male.
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What they receive
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Tyler
Masculine · Latin roots · #219 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tylers are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 586,000 people named Tyler are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tyler in 2025?
- Tyler ranks #219 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,633 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tyler?
- About 1 in every 1,046 US boys born in 2025 was named Tyler — 1,633 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tyler with classmates?
- Tyler will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tyler
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Joel#219 · Rafael#218 · Kevin#221 · Baker#217 · Zachary#216 · Griffin#222 · Oscar#223 · Bentley#215
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tyler? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tyler and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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