Given name & surname · also Scandinavian
Skipper
“the master of a ship”
Skipper is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “the master of a ship.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “the master of a ship.”
Where it comes from
A possible origin is Scandinavian, although the derivation remains uncertain.
How it developed
A proposed origin is English skipper, meaning “boss”.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1937. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Skipper through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 841
- 830 boys · 11 girls
- Most popular year
- 1962
- 33 babies
- 2025
- 11
- #11,797 for boys · #16,939 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 6 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 11,797 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for boys was 33 in 1962. It also appeared in 5 birth records for girls in 2025. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 465 as a first name in 2020; 9,649 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Skipper’s family of names
Skipper has a short form in Skip. In English usage, Skipper as a surname shares a linguistic root with SCHEPER. Skipper has a related form in Skipp.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
Similar names
If you love Skipper, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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