Taylor
Meaning
"cutter of cloth," an occupational surname from Old French; among the first of the 1990s surname names to go fully unisex, riding high for girls and steady for boys. Polished, professional, and friendly all at once
The story
Taylor is the tailor, an occupational surname from Old French that spent centuries on shop signs and family trees before American parents brought it to the cradle. It was among the first of the 1990s surname names to go fully unisex, and the curve shows what a phenomenon it became: barely present through midcentury, rising through the 1980s, then holding the heights across the 1990s and 2000s, riding high for girls while staying steady for boys. Taylor Swift, born in 1989 at the crest of that wave, is less the cause of the fashion than its most famous product: the name's own generation grown up and gone platinum. The numbers have eased in the decades since, as generational favorites do, leaving Taylor in an easy middle age, polished and professional and friendly at once, already answering for itself in every kind of room.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Taylor peaked in the 1990s and the 2000s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
7,464 people · the #2,080 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 27,027 · median age 9
Among people named Taylor living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 1,614 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Taylor
Most people given the name Taylor in the United States were born between 1990 and 2009. The Taylor you meet today is most often in their 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Taylor deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Taylor truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Taylor fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Names like Taylor · Middle names for Taylor · Gender-neutral names
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