Baylor peaked in 2024 at rank 365 with 8,183 American boys carrying the name, a recent climb that reflects the ongoing taste for surname-firsts with a slightly Western or Texan flavor. The name's rise tracks parallel to other place-name and college-name choices that have entered the boy charts in the 2020s.
The Old English root and the university
Baylor derives from the Old English bailli or the related Old French baillier, an occupational name meaning "bailiff" or "administrator," with the variant spelling Baylor common in American records. The surname is strongly associated with Texas through Baylor University, founded in 1845 in Waco and named for Judge Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor, one of the school's founders and a Republic of Texas Supreme Court justice.
The first-name use is a recent American development, riding the same wave that produced Auburn, Hudson, and Cooper as boy names with college or geographic associations. NBA Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor's surname use also contributes to the name's recognition, though as a first name it remains primarily associated with the university connection.
The collegiate-surname cohort
Baylor pairs comfortably with other surname-or-place names with American institutional resonance: Hudson, Carter, Cooper, and Beckett share the two-syllable, surname-derived register. The name's clear Texan and Southern Baptist association gives it cultural specificity in some regions while remaining neutral in others, which can be either an asset or a complication depending on the family.
The counter-reading
The honest consideration with Baylor is the institutional tie: the university association is strong enough that the name reads as a Baylor-affiliated choice in Texas and the South, which may not be the family's intent. The name also rhymes with Taylor and Tyler, which can create cohort confusion in school settings. Browse six-letter boy names for alternatives, or compare with rising names for the broader cohort. Sibling pairings tend toward modern surname peers: Baylor and Sloane, Baylor and Brooks, Baylor and Sutton.