Gaines
Gaines was given to 19 boys in 2025, #5,092 among boys’ names; 1,717 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gaines by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Gaines?
#5,092 among boys’ names, 2025
Gaines rose from #5,131 in 2015 to #5,092 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 9.4 to 11.1 per million.
32 babies in 1915, the peak
Gaines peaked in 1915, when 32 boys were given it, #1,149 among boys’ names. The 19 births of 2025 are 59% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 19 | #5,092 | 11.1 |
| 2024 | 13 | #6,577 | 7.5 |
| 2023 | 17 | #5,527 | 9.9 |
| 2022 | 15 | #5,955 | 8.6 |
| 2021 | 23 | #4,406 | 13.1 |
| 2020 | 31 | #3,517 | 18.0 |
| 2019 | 20 | #4,846 | 11.1 |
| 2018 | 28 | #3,814 | 15.4 |
| 2017 | 25 | #4,145 | 13.5 |
| 2016 | 29 | #3,715 | 15.3 |
Every recorded year (117)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 18 | #5,131 | 9.4 |
| 2014 | 19 | #4,933 | 9.9 |
| 2013 | 15 | #5,747 | 7.9 |
| 2012 | 9 | #8,381 | 4.7 |
| 2011 | 11 | #7,151 | 5.8 |
| 2010 | 13 | #6,466 | 6.8 |
| 2009 | 14 | #6,200 | 7.1 |
| 2008 | 15 | #5,860 | 7.4 |
| 2007 | 16 | #5,506 | 7.7 |
| 2006 | 10 | #7,605 | 4.9 |
| 2005 | 7 | #9,439 | 3.5 |
| 2004 | 5 | #11,946 | 2.5 |
| 2003 | 7 | #8,971 | 3.5 |
| 2002 | 6 | #9,774 | 3.1 |
| 2001 | 7 | #8,603 | 3.6 |
| 2000 | 7 | #8,484 | 3.6 |
| 1999 | 11 | #5,772 | 5.7 |
| 1996 | 8 | #6,698 | 4.2 |
| 1995 | 10 | #5,632 | 5.3 |
| 1994 | 6 | #8,102 | 3.1 |
| 1993 | 7 | #7,058 | 3.6 |
| 1992 | 6 | #7,776 | 3.0 |
| 1991 | 5 | #8,630 | 2.5 |
| 1990 | 5 | #8,559 | 2.4 |
| 1987 | 6 | #6,374 | 3.2 |
| 1986 | 6 | #6,192 | 3.3 |
| 1985 | 7 | #5,340 | 3.8 |
| 1983 | 5 | #6,601 | 2.8 |
| 1982 | 9 | #4,343 | 5.0 |
| 1981 | 11 | #3,685 | 6.1 |
| 1980 | 6 | #5,766 | 3.4 |
| 1979 | 6 | #5,590 | 3.5 |
| 1976 | 9 | #3,821 | 5.7 |
| 1975 | 10 | #3,513 | 6.4 |
| 1973 | 6 | #4,707 | 3.8 |
| 1972 | 7 | #4,137 | 4.3 |
| 1971 | 11 | #3,029 | 6.2 |
| 1969 | 9 | #3,148 | 5.0 |
| 1968 | 9 | #2,975 | 5.2 |
| 1967 | 10 | #2,657 | 5.7 |
| 1966 | 10 | #2,684 | 5.6 |
| 1965 | 5 | #4,103 | 2.7 |
| 1964 | 9 | #2,930 | 4.5 |
| 1963 | 5 | #4,259 | 2.5 |
| 1962 | 10 | #2,733 | 4.8 |
| 1961 | 11 | #2,597 | 5.2 |
| 1960 | 16 | #2,064 | 7.5 |
| 1959 | 15 | #2,145 | 7.0 |
| 1958 | 18 | #1,916 | 8.5 |
| 1957 | 18 | #1,911 | 8.3 |
| 1956 | 14 | #2,201 | 6.6 |
| 1955 | 19 | #1,808 | 9.2 |
| 1954 | 19 | #1,782 | 9.3 |
| 1953 | 14 | #2,133 | 7.1 |
| 1952 | 15 | #2,031 | 7.7 |
| 1951 | 13 | #2,174 | 6.9 |
| 1950 | 26 | #1,445 | 14.5 |
| 1949 | 21 | #1,634 | 11.8 |
| 1948 | 19 | #1,728 | 10.8 |
| 1947 | 19 | #1,752 | 10.4 |
| 1946 | 24 | #1,447 | 14.8 |
| 1945 | 21 | #1,461 | 15.6 |
| 1944 | 18 | #1,648 | 13.2 |
| 1943 | 19 | #1,658 | 13.3 |
| 1942 | 14 | #1,982 | 10.1 |
| 1941 | 19 | #1,607 | 15.5 |
| 1940 | 28 | #1,282 | 24.2 |
| 1939 | 27 | #1,281 | 24.4 |
| 1938 | 10 | #2,380 | 9.0 |
| 1937 | 28 | #1,274 | 26.3 |
| 1936 | 29 | #1,234 | 28.0 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,301 | 10.6 |
| 1934 | 27 | #1,300 | 26.1 |
| 1933 | 17 | #1,729 | 17.1 |
| 1932 | 20 | #1,606 | 19.2 |
| 1931 | 23 | #1,468 | 22.1 |
| 1930 | 25 | #1,473 | 22.8 |
| 1929 | 22 | #1,578 | 20.5 |
| 1928 | 20 | #1,727 | 18.1 |
| 1927 | 32 | #1,303 | 28.4 |
| 1926 | 19 | #1,816 | 17.1 |
| 1925 | 25 | #1,510 | 22.4 |
| 1924 | 26 | #1,508 | 23.0 |
| 1923 | 19 | #1,830 | 17.3 |
| 1922 | 27 | #1,449 | 24.8 |
| 1921 | 31 | #1,340 | 28.1 |
| 1920 | 18 | #1,912 | 16.9 |
| 1919 | 26 | #1,420 | 26.5 |
| 1918 | 25 | #1,465 | 24.7 |
| 1917 | 22 | #1,551 | 23.8 |
| 1916 | 15 | #1,987 | 16.9 |
| 1915 | 32 | #1,149 | 37.7 |
| 1914 | 25 | #1,169 | 38.2 |
| 1913 | 11 | #1,722 | 21.5 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,454 | 27.9 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,223 | 39.8 |
| 1910 | 6 | #1,477 | 30.9 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,346 | 36.6 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,173 | 45.1 |
| 1900 | 7 | #1,087 | 46.5 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,194 | 40.8 |
| 1896 | 6 | #1,032 | 50.2 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,144 | 42.6 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,098 | 44.5 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,056 | 45.0 |
| 1885 | 5 | #992 | 46.4 |
| 1882 | 5 | #992 | 44.0 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Gaines a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gaines has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 117 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Gaines: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gaines, and how old are they?
An estimated 844 Americans named Gaines and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (49% of everyone recorded); the median is 31 years old and half are between 10 and 68. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 843 people named Gaines (30 women and girls, 813 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 833 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
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 Gaines born?
The states with the most babies named Gaines are Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, with 86% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Alabama and Tennessee are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 169 | not ranked | 4.5× |
| Georgia | 30 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Tennessee | 23 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Texas | 16 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Mississippi | 11 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Kentucky | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| South Carolina | 5 | #783 | 0.2× |
Where Gaines is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Gaines is most over-represented in Alabama: since 1910 it was given 4.5 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 boys’ 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 Gaines with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Gaines
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 Gaines and names like it
- Compare Gaines and GraftonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sGaines peaked in 1915.
- Alabama’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gaines since 1910.
- The top names of 1915The year the most babies were named Gaines.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Gaines alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with GMost given first.