Skyler
From Old Norse words meaning "shelter" and "scholar" or "student".
Name Census estimates that about 67,611 living Americans carry the first name Skyler. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 60.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Skyler today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Skyler births was 2000 (2,756 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Skyler. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Skyler with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Skyler sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
68K
~ 1 in 5,070 Americans
Peak year
2000
2,756 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#661
Tracked since 1954
Census
Skyler in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 56,086 people with the first name Skyler, which placed it at #833 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#833
National first-name rank
People counted
56K
56,086 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
18.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Skyler
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Skyler is White at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Black (7.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Skyler described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Skyler at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.6% · 41,269
- Hispanic or Latino8.4% · 4,688
- Black or African American7.0% · 3,915
- Two or more races6.6% · 3,729
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 1,681
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 804
Gender
Gender distribution for Skyler
Skyler is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 68,773 total registrations, 41,509 (60.4%) were male and 27,264 (39.6%) were female.
Skyler as a male name
- Ranked #760 in 2024
- 334 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2002 (1,558 births)
Skyler as a female name
- Ranked #661 in 2024
- 441 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (1,284 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Skyler on both sides of the split. Of the 56,083 people counted with this name, 33,814 were male (60.3%) and 22,269 were female (39.7%).
Popularity
Skyler: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Skyler from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 24,259 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Skyler by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Skyler during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Skylers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Skyler, while Rhode Island, District of Columbia, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,289 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Skyler
The given name Skyler is a modern English name that emerged in the late 20th century. It is believed to have originated as a blend of the English words "sky" and the surname Tyler, which is derived from the Old English word "tilie" meaning "tiler" or "tile maker." The name Skyler gained popularity in the United States in the 1980s.
While the name Skyler does not have a long historical lineage, it evokes a sense of openness and freedom associated with the vastness of the sky. The name is gender-neutral and has been used for both boys and girls, although it has been more commonly given to girls in recent decades.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Skyler can be found in the 1990 film "Skyler" directed by David Hackl. However, it was not until the late 1990s and early 2000s that the name became more widely used.
Some notable individuals with the first name Skyler include:
1. Skyler Austen Gordy (born 1987), an American actress and singer, best known for her role in the television series "The First Family."
2. Skyler Davenport (born 1996), an American actress known for her roles in the films "The Midnight Game" and "The Last Ones."
3. Skyler Gisondo (born 1996), an American actor who has appeared in films such as "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb."
4. Skyler Shaye (born 1986), an American actress and model, known for her roles in the films "Jaded" and "Killer Movie."
5. Skyler Stone (born 1994), an American actress and social media personality, best known for her role in the web series "Chicken Girls."
While the name Skyler may not have a long historical background, its unique sound and association with the sky have contributed to its increasing popularity in recent times. As a modern name, it reflects the desire to imbue children with a sense of freedom, openness, and connection to nature.
People
Skyler + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Skyler as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Skyler: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Skyler?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 67,611 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Skyler going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 5,070 US residents.
Is Skyler a common name?
We classify Skyler as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 68,773 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Skyler most popular?
The single biggest year for Skyler was 2000, when 2,756 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Skyler is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Skyler in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 56,086 people with the name Skyler, or 18.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #833 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Skyler in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Skyler?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Skyler on both sides of the split. Of the 56,083 people counted with this name, 33,814 were male (60.3%) and 22,269 were female (39.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Skyler?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Skyler is White at 73.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.4%) and Black (7.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Skyler most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Skyler in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.6% (41,269 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Skyler in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Skyler a male name?
Yes, 60.4% of people registered as Skyler in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Skyler still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Skyler in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Skyler can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Skyler?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.