Tiler
A masculine name originally referring to one who worked with tiles.
Name Census estimates that about 338 living Americans carry the first name Tiler. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Tiler today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tiler births was 1999 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tiler. 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.
People living today
338
~ 1 in 1,014,066 Americans
Peak year
1999
27 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2013 SSA rank
#13,863
Tracked since 1990
Census
Tiler in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 356 people with the first name Tiler, which placed it at #26,232 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
#26,232
National first-name rank
People counted
356
356 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tiler
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tiler is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Black (20.8%) and Two or More Races (7.3%). 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 Tiler 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 Tiler at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.4% · 222
- Black or African American20.8% · 74
- Two or more races7.3% · 26
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Tiler
Tiler leans heavily male at 82.9% of total registrations, but 59 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tiler as a male name
- Ranked #13,863 in 2013
- 5 male births in 2013
- Peak: 2000 (24 births)
Tiler as a female name
- Ranked #18,966 in 2005
- 5 female births in 2005
- Peak: 1993 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tiler on both sides of the split. Of the 348 people counted with this name, 267 were male (76.7%) and 81 were female (23.3%).
Popularity
Tiler: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tiler from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 188 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tiler 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 Tiler during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tiler
The name Tiler originated from the Old English word "tigel", which means "tile". This word was derived from the Latin word "tegula", which also means "tile". The name Tiler first emerged in England during the Middle Ages, referring to someone who made or laid tiles for a living.
During the medieval period, tiles were commonly used for roofing and flooring in churches, castles, and other important buildings. As a result, the tile-making and tile-laying trades were highly valued and respected professions. The name Tiler became associated with skilled craftsmen who worked with these materials.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tiler can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears in various spellings, such as "Tilere" and "Teghelare", indicating the presence of tile-makers and tile-layers among the population at that time.
Throughout the centuries, the name Tiler has been borne by numerous individuals, some of whom have achieved notable recognition. One such individual was John Tiler, a 14th-century English poet and author of the allegorical poem "The Ploughman's Tale". This work, which satirized the corruption of the church and society, was included in some early manuscripts of Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales".
Another notable bearer of the name was Sir Samuel Tiler (1641-1720), an English merchant and politician who served as the Lord Mayor of London from 1706 to 1707. He was a prominent figure in the City of London and played a significant role in the reconstruction efforts after the Great Fire of London in 1666.
In the United States, one of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Tiler was John Tiler (1750-1828), a farmer and soldier from Virginia who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He served under General George Washington and participated in several major battles, including the Siege of Yorktown.
During the 19th century, the name Tiler gained further prominence with the rise of the Masonic fraternity. In Freemasonry, the term "Tiler" refers to an officer responsible for guarding the entrance to the lodge and ensuring the privacy and security of Masonic meetings. This position was often held by individuals with the surname Tiler, further cementing the name's association with this organization.
One of the most famous Tilers in Masonic history was William Tiler (1808-1879), an American author and Masonic scholar who wrote extensively on the history and symbolism of Freemasonry. His works, including "The Masonic Record" and "The History of Free Masonry", were widely influential and helped to shape the understanding of Masonic traditions.
While the name Tiler has its roots in the medieval tile-making and tile-laying trades, it has since transcended its original occupational meaning and become a unique and distinctive given name in its own right. The legacy of this name continues to be carried forward by individuals from diverse backgrounds and cultures around the world.
People
Tiler + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tiler as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tiler: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tiler?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 338 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tiler 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 1,014,066 US residents.
Is Tiler a common name?
We classify Tiler as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 345 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tiler most popular?
The single biggest year for Tiler was 1999, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tiler is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tiler in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 356 people with the name Tiler, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,232 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 Tiler 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 Tiler?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tiler on both sides of the split. Of the 348 people counted with this name, 267 were male (76.7%) and 81 were female (23.3%). 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 Tiler?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tiler is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Black (20.8%) and Two or More Races (7.3%). 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 Tiler most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tiler in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.4% (222 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 Tiler in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tiler a male name?
Yes, 82.9% of people registered as Tiler 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 Tiler still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tiler 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 Tiler 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 common is the name Tiler?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.