Gaia
Gaia was given to 157 girls in 2025, #1,392 among girls’ names; 2,434 Americans have been recorded with it since 1980 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,420 Americans named Gaia and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 7 years old and half are between 4 and 14.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gaia by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Gaia mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Gaia is “a female given name inspired by Mother Earth.” Its etymology gives the senses “Gaea, the Earth personified as a goddess” (Γαῖᾰ) and “the Earth” (γαῖᾰ) and “earth, land; country” (γῆ).
Borrowed from Ancient Greek Γαῖᾰ (Gaîă, “Gaea, the Earth personified as a goddess”), from γαῖᾰ (gaîă, “the Earth”), probably related to γῆ (gê, “earth, land; country”). Sense 1 was coined by the British scientist, environmentalist, and futurist James Lovelock (1919–2022) in his book Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (1979), at the suggestion of the British novelist, playwright, and poet William Golding (1911–1993): see the quotation.
/ˈɡaɪə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Gaia?
#1,392 among girls’ names, 2025
Gaia rose from #2,107 in 2015 to #1,392 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 51.5 to 97.7 per million.
219 babies in 2023, the peak
Gaia peaked in 2023, when 219 girls were given it, #1,122 among girls’ names. The 157 births of 2025 are 72% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 157 | #1,392 | 0.10 |
| 2024 | 212 | #1,144 | 0.13 |
| 2023 | 219 | #1,122 | 0.14 |
| 2022 | 198 | #1,222 | 0.12 |
| 2021 | 191 | #1,231 | 0.12 |
| 2020 | 156 | #1,401 | 0.10 |
| 2019 | 136 | #1,575 | 0.08 |
| 2018 | 117 | #1,752 | 0.07 |
| 2017 | 90 | #2,134 | 0.05 |
| 2016 | 98 | #2,020 | 0.06 |
Every recorded year (41)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 92 | #2,107 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 73 | #2,483 | 0.04 |
| 2013 | 57 | #2,947 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 75 | #2,456 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 54 | #3,100 | 0.03 |
| 2010 | 44 | #3,587 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 47 | #3,477 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 42 | #3,801 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 47 | #3,498 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 31 | #4,613 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 34 | #4,139 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 26 | #4,980 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 32 | #4,131 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 18 | #6,227 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 27 | #4,480 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 13 | #7,719 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 19 | #5,501 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 20 | #5,205 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 13 | #6,985 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 14 | #6,491 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 9 | #9,005 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 6 | #12,294 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 14 | #6,375 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 7 | #10,851 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 7 | #10,640 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 7 | #10,569 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 5 | #13,044 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 6 | #10,789 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 8 | #7,519 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 7 | #8,395 | under 0.01 |
| 1980 | 6 | #9,454 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Gaia a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gaia has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 41 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Gaia: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gaia, and how old are they?
2,420 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 2,434 Americans ever recorded as Gaia. The median Gaia alive today is 7 years old; half are between 4 and 14.
The 2020 Census counted 1,448 people named Gaia (1,426 women and girls, 22 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,330 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 6 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 88 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 537 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,790 |
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 Gaia born?
The states with the most babies named Gaia are California, New York and Florida, with 65% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 24 | #1,096 | 1.3× |
| New York | 23 | #711 | 1.7× |
| Florida | 17 | #927 | 1.2× |
| Texas | 12 | #1,836 | 0.6× |
| Virginia | 9 | #794 | 0.8× |
| Massachusetts | 9 | #581 | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 5 | #1,239 | 0.8× |
Where Gaia is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Gaia is most over-represented in New York: since 1980 it was given 1.7 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 Gaia 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 28,698 babies since 1880, Gaia is the third most given (8.5% of them). In 2025 it was given to 157 of their 157 babies (100%), the most given that year.
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 Gaia
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 Gaia and names like it
- Compare Gaia and GayBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sGaia peaked in 2023.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gaia since 1910.
- The top names of 2023The year the most babies were named Gaia.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Gaia alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with GMost given first.