unisex name
Skyler
SKY-ler
- Origin Dutch
- Gender Unisex
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 74,721
the United States
#670
2025 births
Skyler is Dutch and means a scholar — it respells Schuyler, a surname carried by one of New York's founding families, and it has nothing to do with the sky despite the spelling. Its strongest market is Scotland, at 411th.
- Skyler is a name of Dutch origin.
- Peaked in 2000, when 2,756 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 4,438 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1954.
Skyler over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1950s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1950s | 31 |
| 1960s | 58 |
| 1970s | 284 |
| 1980s | 3,935 |
| 1990s | 17,753 |
| 2000s | 24,260 |
| 2010s | 17,768 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 5,450 |
What Skyler means
Skyler means a scholar, or one who avoids. The Dutch schuyler is a word for a person who shelters or hides, extended to someone who studies rather than works.
Where Skyler comes from
Skyler respells the Dutch Schuyler, from schuilen, to hide or take shelter — a byname for someone who avoided something, later read as a scholar. The Schuylers were among the wealthiest families of Dutch New York; Philip Schuyler was a Revolutionary general and his daughter Elizabeth married Alexander Hamilton. The modern spelling is entirely phonetic and the sky reading is folk etymology built on it. About 41 percent of births in our records are female.
Skyler in use
Skyler peaked in the United States in 2000, when 2,756 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 411th in Scotland on 8 births, 670th in the United States on 400, 791st in Ireland, 936th in England and Wales on 35 and 6396th in France, across 74,721 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track. About 41 percent of recorded births are female, which puts it among the genuinely mixed.
How popular is Skyler?
In 2025, Skyler was given to 747 babies in the United States, ranking #670 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Skyler is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Skyler
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Skyler also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Skyler over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Skyler
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Skyler in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Skyler
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Skyler — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Skyler
What does the name Skyler mean?
A scholar — from the Dutch schuilen, to shelter or hide.
Is Skyler about the sky?
No. That is folk etymology built on the modern phonetic spelling.
Who were the Schuylers?
One of the wealthiest families of Dutch New York. Elizabeth Schuyler married Alexander Hamilton.
Is Skyler a girls' name?
About 41 percent of the births in our records are female.
How popular is the name Skyler?
In 2025, Skyler was given to 747 babies in the United States, ranking #670 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
When was Skyler most popular?
Skyler peaked in 2000, when 2,756 babies were given the name. It has been falling over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Skyler?
Skyler is usually shortened to Sky.
Is Skyler a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Skyler currently ranks #411 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.