Gayle
Gayle was last recorded in 2024, when 6 babies were given it; 66,308 Americans have been recorded with it between 1891 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 43,900 Americans named Gayle and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (66% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 65 and 77.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gayle by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Gayle mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Gayle is “a female given name, a fanciful spelling of Gail, shortened form of Abigail.”
Also “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
/ɡeɪl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Gayle?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,047, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
2,929 babies in 1951, the peak
Gayle peaked in 1951, when 2,929 babies were given it (2,826 girls, #124 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 6 | #14,047 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 8 | #11,535 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 10 | #9,939 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 6 | #14,067 | under 0.01 |
| 2019 | 5 | #16,362 | under 0.01 |
| 2018 | 7 | #12,925 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 11 | #9,529 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 9 | #11,164 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 7 | #13,539 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 5 | #17,764 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (129)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 6 | #15,466 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 7 | #13,955 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 11 | #10,207 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 15 | #8,258 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 7 | #14,411 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 9 | #11,768 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 9 | #11,199 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 8 | #11,983 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 10 | #9,915 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 11 | #9,048 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 30 | #4,129 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 20 | #5,546 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 18 | #5,736 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 29 | #3,953 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 31 | #3,650 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 45 | #2,726 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 30 | #3,610 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 36 | #3,174 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 42 | #2,841 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 43 | #2,788 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 48 | #2,562 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 47 | #2,530 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 71 | #1,852 | 0.04 |
| 1988 | 70 | #1,788 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 79 | #1,583 | 0.05 |
| 1986 | 83 | #1,497 | 0.05 |
| 1985 | 97 | #1,350 | 0.06 |
| 1984 | 104 | #1,239 | 0.06 |
| 1983 | 112 | #1,172 | 0.07 |
| 1982 | 149 | #990 | 0.09 |
| 1981 | 146 | #999 | 0.09 |
| 1980 | 145 | #1,006 | 0.09 |
| 1979 | 157 | #940 | 0.10 |
| 1978 | 174 | #850 | 0.11 |
| 1977 | 170 | #863 | 0.11 |
| 1976 | 193 | #751 | 0.13 |
| 1975 | 184 | #771 | 0.13 |
| 1974 | 263 | #600 | 0.18 |
| 1973 | 263 | #599 | 0.18 |
| 1972 | 322 | #527 | 0.21 |
| 1971 | 446 | #458 | 0.27 |
| 1970 | 535 | #419 | 0.31 |
| 1969 | 618 | #373 | 0.37 |
| 1968 | 652 | #347 | 0.40 |
| 1967 | 695 | #332 | 0.42 |
| 1966 | 776 | #318 | 0.46 |
| 1965 | 956 | #281 | 0.54 |
| 1964 | 1,105 | #271 | 0.58 |
| 1963 | 1,108 | #270 | 0.57 |
| 1962 | 1,266 | #250 | 0.64 |
| 1961 | 1,448 | #229 | 0.72 |
| 1960 | 1,493 | #220 | 0.74 |
| 1959 | 1,827 | #195 | 0.90 |
| 1958 | 1,947 | #186 | 1.0 |
| 1957 | 2,190 | #173 | 1.1 |
| 1956 | 2,287 | #163 | 1.1 |
| 1955 | 2,483 | #146 | 1.3 |
| 1954 | 2,497 | #147 | 1.3 |
| 1953 | 2,666 | #136 | 1.4 |
| 1952 | 2,636 | #135 | 1.4 |
| 1951 | 2,826 | #124 | 1.6 |
| 1950 | 2,368 | #133 | 1.4 |
| 1949 | 2,293 | #137 | 1.3 |
| 1948 | 2,066 | #141 | 1.2 |
| 1947 | 2,485 | #127 | 1.4 |
| 1946 | 1,927 | #141 | 1.2 |
| 1945 | 1,491 | #156 | 1.1 |
| 1944 | 1,233 | #173 | 0.93 |
| 1943 | 1,423 | #168 | 1.0 |
| 1942 | 1,188 | #184 | 0.88 |
| 1941 | 1,007 | #187 | 0.83 |
| 1940 | 1,085 | #177 | 0.95 |
| 1939 | 843 | #206 | 0.77 |
| 1938 | 803 | #212 | 0.73 |
| 1937 | 720 | #224 | 0.68 |
| 1936 | 717 | #228 | 0.69 |
| 1935 | 705 | #237 | 0.67 |
| 1934 | 476 | #282 | 0.46 |
| 1933 | 239 | #415 | 0.24 |
| 1932 | 225 | #441 | 0.21 |
| 1931 | 167 | #499 | 0.16 |
| 1930 | 139 | #580 | 0.12 |
| 1929 | 108 | #673 | 0.10 |
| 1928 | 119 | #646 | 0.10 |
| 1927 | 96 | #732 | 0.08 |
| 1926 | 98 | #733 | 0.08 |
| 1925 | 100 | #737 | 0.08 |
| 1924 | 107 | #720 | 0.09 |
| 1923 | 87 | #783 | 0.07 |
| 1922 | 102 | #720 | 0.08 |
| 1921 | 106 | #712 | 0.09 |
| 1920 | 102 | #719 | 0.09 |
| 1919 | 113 | #657 | 0.10 |
| 1918 | 125 | #637 | 0.11 |
| 1917 | 127 | #606 | 0.12 |
| 1916 | 107 | #659 | 0.10 |
| 1915 | 84 | #725 | 0.09 |
| 1914 | 55 | #781 | 0.07 |
| 1913 | 39 | #846 | 0.06 |
| 1912 | 35 | #850 | 0.06 |
| 1911 | 16 | #1,137 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 15 | #1,182 | 0.04 |
| 1909 | 18 | #976 | 0.05 |
| 1908 | 6 | #1,945 | 0.02 |
| 1907 | 20 | #854 | 0.06 |
| 1906 | 12 | #1,120 | 0.04 |
| 1905 | 20 | #832 | 0.07 |
| 1904 | 9 | #1,304 | 0.03 |
| 1902 | 18 | #829 | 0.07 |
| 1901 | 9 | #1,169 | 0.04 |
| 1900 | 9 | #1,357 | 0.03 |
| 1899 | 12 | #945 | 0.05 |
| 1898 | 10 | #1,133 | 0.04 |
| 1897 | 11 | #1,004 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 9 | #1,161 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 6 | #1,483 | 0.03 |
| 1894 | 8 | #1,177 | 0.04 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,510 | 0.02 |
| 1891 | 9 | #965 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Gayle a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 66,308 Americans recorded as Gayle, 93% are girls and 7% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Gayle: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gayle, and how old are they?
43,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 66% of the 66,308 Americans ever recorded as Gayle. The median Gayle alive today is 71 years old; half are between 65 and 77.
The 2020 Census counted 51,625 people named Gayle (49,407 women and girls, 2,218 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 49,684 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 5,600 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 30,600 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 6,200 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,210 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 223 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 69 |
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 Gayle born?
The states with the most babies named Gayle are California, Ohio and Illinois, with 24% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 5,925 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 4,257 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Illinois | 4,194 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 3,702 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| New York | 3,626 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 2,986 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 2,832 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Minnesota | 2,397 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Massachusetts | 1,849 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Indiana | 1,718 | not ranked | 1.0× |
Where Gayle is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Gayle is most over-represented in Utah: since 1910 it was given 2.1 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 Gayle 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 113,870 babies since 1880, Gayle is the most given (58% of them). In 2025 none of their 108 babies recorded by SSA was a Gayle (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 Gayle
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 Gayle and names like it
- Compare Gayle and GaleBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sGayle peaked in 1951.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gayle since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Gayle: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1951The year the most babies were named Gayle.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Gayle alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with GMost given first.