Gaelen
Gaelen was last recorded in 2008, when 7 babies were given it; 174 Americans have been recorded with it between 1967 and 2008 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gaelen by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Gaelen?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #10,220, in 2008; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
14 babies in 1996, the peak
Gaelen peaked in 1996, when 14 boys were given it, #4,454 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | under 5 | 7 | #10,220 | |
| 2006 | 5 | #18,070 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | under 5 | 6 | #10,398 | |
| 2003 | under 5 | 5 | #11,458 | |
| 2002 | under 5 | 6 | #9,773 | |
| 2001 | under 5 | 6 | #9,668 | |
| 2000 | under 5 | 9 | #7,008 | |
| 1999 | under 5 | 5 | #10,454 | |
| 1998 | under 5 | 11 | #5,588 | |
| 1997 | 7 | #11,222 | 7 | #7,547 |
Every recorded year (22)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | under 5 | 14 | #4,454 | |
| 1995 | under 5 | 13 | #4,603 | |
| 1994 | under 5 | 12 | #4,887 | |
| 1991 | under 5 | 6 | #7,578 | |
| 1990 | under 5 | 9 | #5,516 | |
| 1989 | under 5 | 7 | #6,446 | |
| 1987 | under 5 | 9 | #4,681 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 6 | #6,191 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 7 | #5,339 | |
| 1983 | under 5 | 6 | #5,713 | |
| 1982 | under 5 | 5 | #6,688 | |
| 1967 | 6 | #6,275 | 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 Gaelen a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 174 Americans recorded as Gaelen, 10% are girls and 90% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Gaelen: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gaelen, and how old are they?
An estimated 168 Americans named Gaelen and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 30 years old and half are between 26 and 37. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 310 people named Gaelen (96 women and girls, 214 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 169 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.8 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 24,408 babies since 1880, Gaelen is the seventh most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 23 babies recorded by SSA was a Gaelen (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Gaelen
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1960-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Schyler | 1,374 |
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 Gaelen and names like it
- Compare Gaelen and GalenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sGaelen peaked in 1996.
- The top names of 1996The year the most babies were named Gaelen.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Gaelen alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with GMost given first.