Boys' name · peaked in 1918
Lyle name popularity since 1925
47,927 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Lyle (1.3% girls, 98.7% boys). Half of them were born in 1950 or earlier, so the typical Lyle is about 76 years old in 2026. Lyle peaked in 1918 as the #145 name for boys, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 47,927
- Named Lyle, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1918
- #145 for boys that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,047 for boys in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 98.7% boys
- 605 girls · 47,322 boys
- Most popular in
- South Dakota
- 10.67× its national share
Peak year is the year Lyle made up the largest share of US boys, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Lyle births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year on this chart was 1927. Measured as a share of all babies, Lyle peaked earlier, in 1918.
- Steepest fall: Between 1986 and 1991, Lyle's share of baby boys fell by 45%, from 1 in 6,200 to 1 in 11,300.
- Fastest rise: Between 2010 and 2015, it became 1.8× more common, from 1 in 19,000 baby boys to 1 in 10,500.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Lyle's share of all US boys five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Lyle.
Decade by decade
Babies named Lyle in each decade, and its rank among boys' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 91 | 5,123 | – |
| 1930s | 130 | 9,058 | #156 |
| 1940s | 106 | 8,618 | #194 |
| 1950s | 121 | 8,304 | #246 |
| 1960s | 39 | 5,259 | #359 |
| 1970s | 31 | 2,959 | #508 |
| 1980s | 6 | 2,536 | #564 |
| 1990s | 7 | 1,506 | #927 |
| 2000s | 5 | 942 | #1,643 |
| 2010s | 38 | 1,762 | #1,079 |
| 2020–25 | 31 | 1,255 | #1,047 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 boys that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
34.3% of babies named Lyle from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:
Where Lyle is most popular
The index compares Lyle's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Lyle.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | 10.67× | 1,461 |
| North Dakota | 9.58× | 1,299 |
| Nebraska | 5.94× | 1,792 |
| Iowa | 5.60× | 3,061 |
| Montana | 4.73× | 594 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Lyle's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Lyle.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Lyle (1918).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data