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Sly

#8,156 in 2025Boys' name

Woody, rural, through Sylvester

Sly has been given to 101 babies in the U.S. since 1973. In 2025 it ranked #8,156 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 10 recorded.

Babies named Sly, 2025

1 in 332,000

Sly over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02.557.51018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Sly: meaning, origin, and history

Woody, rural, through Sylvester

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Sly means

Sly belongs to the name family reached through Sly → Sylvester. Its meaning is “woody, rural”.

Origin, language, and formation

Sly is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Sylvester.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 101 boys were recorded with the name Sly between 1973 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 10 in 2025; its best national rank was #5,004 in 1973.

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 Sly?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 332,000
10 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 171,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#8,156
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
229,791 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Sly sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 229,791 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sly. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Slys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Sly was born before 2008 — so the typical Sly is around 17 today.

Median birth year
2008
About 17 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
24.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
58.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
101
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 24.8% of all recorded uses (25).

Is Sly 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (10)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
22.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,004
1973

Sly around the world

Where Sly 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.

  • France
    1990–2001
    #3,874
    in 2001

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Sly by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#8,156
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#5,004
1973
Peak year
2025
10 that year
First recorded
1973
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
101
Count in 2025
10

Names similar to Sly

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

EslyWeslyKingslyLeslyKenslySlyvesterNeslyJamesly

Sibling names for Sly

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 Sly

Top names of 2025, Sly's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1973Boys' names starting with S