Tyler
An Old English masculine name derived from the word "tiler", meaning a tiler or roofer.
Name Census estimates that about 604,001 living Americans carry the first name Tyler. It sits at #191 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (97.2% of registrations). The average person named Tyler today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tyler births was 1994 (31,534 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tyler. 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 Tyler with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Tyler is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 17,422 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Tyler have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
604K
~ 1 in 567 Americans
Peak year
1994
31,534 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#191
Tracked since 1880
Census
Tyler in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 541,533 people with the first name Tyler, which placed it at #79 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
#79
National first-name rank
People counted
542K
541,533 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
179.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tyler
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tyler is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Black (6.7%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Tyler 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 Tyler at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.6% · 436,429
- Black or African American6.7% · 36,066
- Hispanic or Latino5.0% · 27,346
- Two or more races4.8% · 26,188
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 11,301
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 4,203
Gender
Gender distribution for Tyler
Tyler leans heavily male at 97.2% of total registrations, but 17,422 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tyler as a male name
- Ranked #191 in 2024
- 1,908 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (30,480 births)
Tyler as a female name
- Ranked #1,591 in 2024
- 132 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (1,182 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tyler leans strongly male. 527,058 people counted with this name were male (97.3%), compared with 14,467 female bearers (2.7%).
Popularity
Tyler: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tyler from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 270,725 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
Tyler 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 Tyler during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tylers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Tyler, while District of Columbia, Wyoming, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12,051 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tyler
The given name Tyler originated from the English occupational surname Tyler, derived from the Old French word tuilier, meaning "tiler" or "tile maker." This surname can be traced back to the medieval era when it referred to those who crafted and laid tiles for roofs and floors.
The name's earliest recorded use as a given name dates back to the late 16th century. One of the earliest known individuals with the name Tyler was Sir Tyler Norwood (c. 1580-1652), an English landowner and Member of Parliament during the reign of King Charles I.
In the 17th century, Tyler Bigg (1629-1699) was a notable English clergyman and academic who served as the President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
The American Revolutionary War saw the emergence of Tyler as a popular given name. One of the most famous individuals with this name was John Tyler (1790-1862), the 10th President of the United States. He assumed the presidency after the death of William Henry Harrison in 1841.
Another notable figure in American history was Tyler Gatewood Dennett (1815-1900), a renowned lawyer and politician who served as the President of the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1873.
In the realm of literature, the name is associated with Tyler Hawkins (1851-1925), an American writer and poet who was part of the Fireside Poets movement in the late 19th century.
The name Tyler gained further popularity in the 20th century, with individuals like Tyler Hamilton (born 1971), an American former professional cyclist, and Tyler Perry (born 1969), the acclaimed African American actor, writer, producer, and director.
While the name originated from an occupation, it has evolved over time to become a widely recognized and accepted given name, particularly in English-speaking countries. Its historical roots and associations with notable figures have contributed to its enduring popularity across generations.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Tyler
People
Tyler + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tyler 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
Tyler: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tyler?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 604,001 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tyler 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 567 US residents.
Is Tyler a common name?
We classify Tyler as "Very Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 619,711 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tyler most popular?
The single biggest year for Tyler was 1994, when 31,534 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tyler is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tyler in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 541,533 people with the name Tyler, or 179.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #79 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 Tyler 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 Tyler?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tyler leans strongly male. 527,058 people counted with this name were male (97.3%), compared with 14,467 female bearers (2.7%). 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 Tyler?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tyler is White at 80.6%. The next largest groups are Black (6.7%) and Hispanic (5.0%). 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 Tyler most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tyler in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.6% (436,429 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 Tyler in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tyler a male name?
Yes, 97.2% of people registered as Tyler 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 Tyler still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tyler 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 Tyler 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 are named Tyler?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.