Gaylen
Gaylen was last recorded in 2005, when 5 babies were given it; 2,373 Americans have been recorded with it between 1915 and 2005 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,360 Americans named Gaylen and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (57% of everyone recorded); the median is 69 years old and half are between 58 and 76.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gaylen by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Gaylen?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #12,023, in 2005; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
104 babies in 1949, the peak
Gaylen peaked in 1949, when 104 babies were given it (94 boys, #709 among boys’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | under 5 | 5 | #12,023 | |
| 2003 | under 5 | 5 | #11,466 | |
| 1998 | 5 | #14,924 | 5 | #10,148 |
| 1997 | under 5 | 5 | #9,761 | |
| 1996 | 9 | #9,044 | 5 | #9,494 |
| 1995 | 6 | #12,282 | under 5 | |
| 1994 | 9 | #9,069 | 6 | #8,108 |
| 1992 | 8 | #9,782 | 5 | #8,875 |
| 1991 | under 5 | 7 | #6,770 | |
| 1990 | under 5 | 5 | #8,566 |
Every recorded year (82)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | under 5 | 6 | #6,693 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 6 | #6,199 | |
| 1985 | 5 | #11,213 | 5 | #6,900 |
| 1984 | under 5 | 10 | #4,015 | |
| 1983 | 8 | #7,523 | 8 | #4,642 |
| 1982 | under 5 | 5 | #6,693 | |
| 1981 | 6 | #9,470 | 5 | #6,614 |
| 1980 | under 5 | 7 | #5,125 | |
| 1979 | under 5 | 13 | #3,230 | |
| 1978 | under 5 | 11 | #3,480 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 8 | #4,315 | |
| 1976 | under 5 | 18 | #2,451 | |
| 1975 | under 5 | 21 | #2,156 | |
| 1974 | 8 | #6,430 | 21 | #2,074 |
| 1973 | under 5 | 11 | #3,084 | |
| 1972 | under 5 | 19 | #2,107 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 11 | #3,031 | |
| 1970 | 6 | #7,360 | 26 | #1,722 |
| 1969 | 6 | #6,898 | 23 | #1,742 |
| 1968 | 7 | #5,829 | 19 | #1,859 |
| 1967 | under 5 | 21 | #1,728 | |
| 1966 | 6 | #6,035 | 23 | #1,628 |
| 1965 | 5 | #6,847 | 30 | #1,416 |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,098 | 32 | #1,389 |
| 1963 | under 5 | 29 | #1,465 | |
| 1962 | under 5 | 44 | #1,178 | |
| 1961 | 12 | #3,850 | 36 | #1,332 |
| 1960 | 15 | #3,260 | 38 | #1,277 |
| 1959 | 13 | #3,498 | 44 | #1,174 |
| 1958 | 14 | #3,279 | 41 | #1,212 |
| 1957 | 10 | #4,020 | 48 | #1,104 |
| 1956 | 15 | #3,097 | 50 | #1,073 |
| 1955 | 14 | #3,135 | 54 | #1,026 |
| 1954 | 9 | #4,070 | 58 | #979 |
| 1953 | 5 | #5,966 | 58 | #940 |
| 1952 | 12 | #3,262 | 68 | #848 |
| 1951 | 18 | #2,414 | 66 | #859 |
| 1950 | 10 | #3,507 | 81 | #763 |
| 1949 | 10 | #3,463 | 94 | #709 |
| 1948 | 18 | #2,362 | 61 | #874 |
| 1947 | 12 | #3,119 | 56 | #945 |
| 1946 | 8 | #3,780 | 42 | #1,062 |
| 1945 | 13 | #2,512 | 35 | #1,108 |
| 1944 | 11 | #2,827 | 42 | #1,010 |
| 1943 | 14 | #2,476 | 38 | #1,112 |
| 1942 | 10 | #3,061 | 26 | #1,368 |
| 1941 | under 5 | 42 | #995 | |
| 1940 | under 5 | 30 | #1,237 | |
| 1939 | under 5 | 38 | #1,040 | |
| 1938 | 6 | #4,009 | 28 | #1,257 |
| 1937 | under 5 | 41 | #994 | |
| 1936 | under 5 | 28 | #1,255 | |
| 1935 | under 5 | 35 | #1,108 | |
| 1934 | under 5 | 21 | #1,525 | |
| 1933 | under 5 | 24 | #1,375 | |
| 1932 | under 5 | 25 | #1,401 | |
| 1931 | under 5 | 15 | #1,962 | |
| 1930 | under 5 | 17 | #1,850 | |
| 1929 | under 5 | 23 | #1,539 | |
| 1928 | under 5 | 11 | #2,561 | |
| 1927 | under 5 | 18 | #1,903 | |
| 1926 | under 5 | 15 | #2,119 | |
| 1925 | under 5 | 14 | #2,236 | |
| 1924 | under 5 | 13 | #2,395 | |
| 1923 | under 5 | 6 | #3,971 | |
| 1922 | under 5 | 8 | #3,355 | |
| 1921 | under 5 | 12 | #2,541 | |
| 1920 | under 5 | 10 | #2,845 | |
| 1919 | under 5 | 9 | #2,958 | |
| 1918 | under 5 | 11 | #2,602 | |
| 1917 | under 5 | 9 | #2,819 | |
| 1915 | under 5 | 6 | #3,565 |
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 Gaylen a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,373 Americans recorded as Gaylen, 15% are girls and 85% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Gaylen: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gaylen, and how old are they?
1,360 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 57% of the 2,373 Americans ever recorded as Gaylen. The median Gaylen alive today is 69 years old; half are between 58 and 76.
The 2020 Census counted 1,628 people named Gaylen (348 women and girls, 1,280 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,580 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 145 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 793 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 281 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 119 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 24 |
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 Gaylen born?
The states with the most babies named Gaylen are Iowa, Utah and Minnesota, with 65% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Iowa and Utah and Minnesota are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa | 125 | not ranked | 3.0× |
| Utah | 73 | not ranked | 4.5× |
| Minnesota | 57 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Nebraska | 38 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| California | 32 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Texas | 16 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| North Dakota | 15 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Missouri | 12 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Washington | 11 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Kansas | 10 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Gaylen is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Gaylen is most over-represented in Iowa: since 1915 it was given 3.0 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 Gaylen 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 24,408 babies since 1880, Gaylen is the third most given (9.7% of them). In 2025 none of their 23 babies recorded by SSA was a Gaylen (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 Gaylen
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 Gaylen and names like it
- Compare Gaylen and GalenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sGaylen peaked in 1949.
- Iowa’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gaylen since 1910.
- The top names of 1949The year the most babies were named Gaylen.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Gaylen alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with GMost given first.