Tyler
The story
Tyler started as a job, not a first name. The English surname identified someone who made or laid roof tiles, from the Old English word tigele. It reached American public life as the surname of President John Tyler, but its transformation into a familiar given name came much later. The US curve is nearly flat through the middle of the twentieth century, begins to move in the 1970s, climbs hard in the 1980s, and reaches its clear high point in the 1990s. It remains substantial in the 2000s before falling away. That is why Tyler still sounds youthful even though its source is medieval: most of the people who made it familiar arrived within a compact stretch of recent history. Ty shortened it further, and the surname rhythm helped it sit beside Taylor, Ryan, and Brandon in the same school photographs.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Tyler peaked in the 1990s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
906 people · the #8,856 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 250,000 · median age 3
Among people named Tyler living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 531 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Tyler
Most people given the name Tyler in the United States were born between 1990 and 2009. The Tyler you meet today is most often in his 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Tyler deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Tyler 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 Tyler fits with your family’s names and surname.
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