Name Awesome

Sailor

#1,134 in 2025UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Variant of Saylor

Sailor has been given to 4,290 babies in the U.S. since 1998. In 2025 it ranked #1,134 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2016, with 245 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 84% girls, 16% boys all-time.

Babies named Sailor, 2025

1 in 16,100

Sailor over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Sailor over time

In 2025, Sailor went to 84% girls and 16% boys.

19972025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Sailor: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Saylor

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Sailor means

Sailor is a variant of Saylor.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Sailor → Saylor. The family’s meaning is “dancer, acrobat”, recorded in English with the source elements sailleor.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Saylor.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,603 girls were recorded with the name Sailor between 1998 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 245 in 2016; its best national rank was #1,056 in 2017.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,087 in 2020 to #1,134 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,094 in 2015 to #1,134 in 2025.

In the United States, 687 boys were recorded with the name Sailor between 1997 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 50 in 2022; its best national rank was #2,581 in 2016.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,121 in 2020 to #3,079 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,756 in 2015 to #3,079 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Sailor?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 16,100
206 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 7,800
0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,134
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
11,156 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Sailor sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5003%

Put another way: gather 11,156 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sailor. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Sailors were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Sailor was born before 2017 — so the typical Sailor is around 8 today.

Median birth year
2017
About 8 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
48.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
97.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
3,603
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 48.0% of all recorded uses (1,730).

Is Sailor rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+214
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−47
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−40
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.87×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
84.1%
Peak was 2016 (245)
Years since peak
9
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
19.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,056
2017

Spellings of Sailor

Sailor is not the most common spelling — Taylor is, with 88.2% against Sailor's 0.96%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Sailor is used — girls

Across 2016–2025, Sailor was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 3,333 girls, against 1 in 8,391 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in 50,000).

230 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 3,333
  2. 2North Carolina1 in 3,846
  3. 3West Virginia1 in 4,000
  4. 4Florida1 in 4,545
  5. 5Georgia1 in 4,762
  6. 6South Carolina1 in 4,762
  7. 7Alabama1 in 5,000
  8. 8Washington1 in 5,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Where Sailor is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Sailor was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 574,410 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Florida1 in —
  3. 3North Carolina1 in —
  4. 4Tennessee1 in —
  5. 5Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Sailor has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Sailor around the world

Where Sailor ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2011–2025
    #3,705
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2015–2024
    #2,256
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2009–2011
    #840
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Sailor

People whose public names include Sailor, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Sailor by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,134
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 47
Best rank ever
#1,056
2017
Peak year
2016
245 that year
First recorded
1998
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,603
Count in 2025
206

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,079
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 42
Best rank ever
#2,581
2016
Peak year
2022
50 that year
First recorded
1997
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
687
Count in 2025
40

Names similar to Sailor

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

SairaSaishaBaylorTaelorSaidaSaigeSaidahSaimaSaideeSaylorKaylorSaiyaSairahSainaFlorSaintTailorSaideSailahSailaSaiSaijeSaiaSaily

Names with a curve like Sailor

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Sailor, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

RaylynnJubileeImogenKamillaJournieAmiliaLiahBlessingNaylaMalayahAaryaRayleigh

Sibling names for Sailor

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Sailor

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