Skye
Skye was given to 569 girls in 2025, #532 among girls’ names; 27,165 Americans have been recorded with it since 1952 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 26,800 Americans named Skye and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 18 years old and half are between 9 and 27.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Skye by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Skye mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Skye is “a female given name transferred from the place name, of modern usage, or a fanciful spelling of the word sky.”
Derived from Scottish Gaelic An t-Eilean Sgitheanach, of long disputed (probably non-Indo-European substrate) origin, with several theories proposed and none widely accepted; see Etymology of Skye.
/skaɪ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Skye?
#532 among girls’ names, 2025
Skye fell from #384 in 2015 to #532 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.48 to 0.35 per 1,000.
946 babies in 2014, the peak
Skye peaked in 2014, when 946 babies were given it (887 girls, #368 among girls’ names). The 628 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 66% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 569 | #532 | 59 | #2,357 |
| 2024 | 644 | #480 | 63 | #2,285 |
| 2023 | 687 | #447 | 69 | #2,121 |
| 2022 | 760 | #416 | 65 | #2,235 |
| 2021 | 737 | #428 | 67 | #2,151 |
| 2020 | 664 | #466 | 50 | #2,579 |
| 2019 | 753 | #419 | 58 | #2,358 |
| 2018 | 748 | #414 | 46 | #2,701 |
| 2017 | 752 | #423 | 59 | #2,263 |
| 2016 | 797 | #417 | 71 | #2,024 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 856 | #384 | 59 | #2,270 |
| 2014 | 887 | #368 | 59 | #2,269 |
| 2013 | 718 | #425 | 55 | #2,327 |
| 2012 | 703 | #446 | 57 | #2,287 |
| 2011 | 624 | #476 | 56 | #2,312 |
| 2010 | 615 | #492 | 85 | #1,765 |
| 2009 | 627 | #491 | 74 | #1,937 |
| 2008 | 623 | #501 | 63 | #2,155 |
| 2007 | 681 | #471 | 71 | #1,993 |
| 2006 | 740 | #431 | 63 | #2,097 |
| 2005 | 734 | #422 | 77 | #1,734 |
| 2004 | 760 | #400 | 46 | #2,444 |
| 2003 | 727 | #415 | 66 | #1,810 |
| 2002 | 648 | #446 | 50 | #2,143 |
| 2001 | 602 | #461 | 56 | #1,947 |
| 2000 | 566 | #480 | 86 | #1,443 |
| 1999 | 507 | #510 | 69 | #1,588 |
| 1998 | 516 | #493 | 74 | #1,498 |
| 1997 | 557 | #454 | 82 | #1,360 |
| 1996 | 396 | #580 | 85 | #1,298 |
| 1995 | 349 | #628 | 77 | #1,344 |
| 1994 | 308 | #684 | 58 | #1,598 |
| 1993 | 313 | #693 | 51 | #1,713 |
| 1992 | 295 | #725 | 53 | #1,651 |
| 1991 | 303 | #703 | 43 | #1,857 |
| 1990 | 308 | #688 | 51 | #1,629 |
| 1989 | 241 | #791 | 43 | #1,785 |
| 1988 | 240 | #787 | 44 | #1,635 |
| 1987 | 240 | #749 | 45 | #1,582 |
| 1986 | 116 | #1,208 | 42 | #1,581 |
| 1985 | 100 | #1,330 | 24 | #2,285 |
| 1984 | 88 | #1,360 | 27 | #2,027 |
| 1983 | 108 | #1,199 | 39 | #1,560 |
| 1982 | 110 | #1,219 | 45 | #1,438 |
| 1981 | 94 | #1,338 | 50 | #1,329 |
| 1980 | 103 | #1,266 | 38 | #1,589 |
| 1979 | 112 | #1,183 | 49 | #1,338 |
| 1978 | 77 | #1,486 | 24 | #2,062 |
| 1977 | 88 | #1,323 | 26 | #1,941 |
| 1976 | 80 | #1,351 | 26 | #1,925 |
| 1975 | 70 | #1,476 | 26 | #1,876 |
| 1974 | 72 | #1,425 | 21 | #2,117 |
| 1973 | 41 | #2,009 | 27 | #1,729 |
| 1972 | 45 | #1,886 | 17 | #2,314 |
| 1971 | 36 | #2,239 | 5 | #5,550 |
| 1970 | 14 | #4,224 | 5 | #5,339 |
| 1969 | 9 | #5,395 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 8 | #5,387 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 5 | #7,461 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,380 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 7 | #5,925 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 9 | #4,853 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 8 | #5,234 | under 5 | |
| 1961 | 5 | #7,398 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 11 | #3,900 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 11 | #3,895 | 7 | #3,516 |
| 1956 | 29 | #2,048 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 6 | #5,485 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Skye a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 27,165 Americans recorded as Skye, 89% are girls and 11% boys. In 2025 it went to 569 girls and 59 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Skye: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Skye, and how old are they?
26,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 27,165 Americans ever recorded as Skye. The median Skye alive today is 18 years old; half are between 9 and 27.
The 2020 Census counted 20,357 people named Skye (18,034 women and girls, 2,323 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 22,621 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 76 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 962 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,260 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 11,200 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 10,300 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Skye born?
The states with the most babies named Skye are California, Texas and Florida, with 30% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 79 | #489 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 48 | #648 | 0.7× |
| Florida | 42 | #455 | 1.2× |
| New York | 40 | #504 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 22 | #483 | 0.9× |
| Virginia | 20 | #410 | 0.9× |
| Indiana | 20 | #357 | 0.7× |
| Georgia | 19 | #578 | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 18 | #481 | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 17 | #468 | 0.8× |
Where Skye is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Skye is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1952 it was given 2.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Skye with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 43,885 babies since 1880, Skye is the most given (62% of them). In 2025 it was given to 628 of their 1,031 babies (61%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Skye
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Skye and names like it
- Compare Skye and SkyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sSkye peaked in 2014.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Skye since 1910.
- From place namesWiktionary’s origin for Skye: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2014The year the most babies were named Skye.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Skye alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.