Gaynell
Gaynell was last recorded in 1991, when 5 babies were given it; 4,269 Americans have been recorded with it between 1886 and 1991 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,980 Americans named Gaynell and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (46% of everyone recorded); the median is 72 years old and half are between 65 and 80.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gaynell by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Gaynell?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #13,882, in 1991; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
117 babies in 1952, the peak
Gaynell peaked in 1952, when 117 girls were given it, #849 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 5 | #13,882 | 2.7 |
| 1990 | 6 | #11,866 | 3.2 |
| 1986 | 8 | #7,975 | 4.7 |
| 1984 | 7 | #8,443 | 4.2 |
| 1983 | 7 | #8,318 | 4.2 |
| 1982 | 7 | #8,519 | 4.1 |
| 1981 | 5 | #10,932 | 3.0 |
| 1979 | 7 | #8,317 | 4.4 |
| 1978 | 8 | #7,162 | 5.2 |
| 1977 | 9 | #6,508 | 5.9 |
Every recorded year (96)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 18 | #3,720 | 12.3 |
| 1975 | 12 | #4,953 | 8.2 |
| 1974 | 17 | #3,747 | 11.6 |
| 1973 | 21 | #3,152 | 14.4 |
| 1972 | 21 | #3,097 | 13.8 |
| 1971 | 30 | #2,500 | 18.0 |
| 1970 | 19 | #3,344 | 10.9 |
| 1969 | 29 | #2,415 | 17.2 |
| 1968 | 21 | #2,812 | 12.8 |
| 1967 | 40 | #1,857 | 24.2 |
| 1966 | 31 | #2,111 | 18.3 |
| 1965 | 30 | #2,168 | 17.0 |
| 1964 | 51 | #1,598 | 26.9 |
| 1963 | 53 | #1,553 | 27.5 |
| 1962 | 72 | #1,307 | 36.6 |
| 1961 | 59 | #1,456 | 29.2 |
| 1960 | 66 | #1,356 | 32.6 |
| 1959 | 89 | #1,132 | 44.0 |
| 1958 | 76 | #1,223 | 37.8 |
| 1957 | 79 | #1,188 | 38.6 |
| 1956 | 95 | #1,053 | 47.3 |
| 1955 | 73 | #1,168 | 37.3 |
| 1954 | 95 | #1,004 | 48.9 |
| 1953 | 99 | #951 | 52.6 |
| 1952 | 117 | #849 | 63.1 |
| 1951 | 90 | #981 | 50.0 |
| 1950 | 83 | #1,000 | 48.5 |
| 1949 | 86 | #964 | 50.3 |
| 1948 | 113 | #816 | 66.6 |
| 1947 | 79 | #995 | 44.6 |
| 1946 | 94 | #853 | 59.8 |
| 1945 | 68 | #919 | 52.0 |
| 1944 | 96 | #782 | 72.3 |
| 1943 | 80 | #872 | 57.3 |
| 1942 | 88 | #818 | 65.2 |
| 1941 | 90 | #753 | 74.5 |
| 1940 | 92 | #727 | 80.5 |
| 1939 | 87 | #729 | 79.3 |
| 1938 | 87 | #739 | 78.8 |
| 1937 | 92 | #711 | 86.5 |
| 1936 | 86 | #720 | 82.7 |
| 1935 | 81 | #753 | 77.2 |
| 1934 | 67 | #836 | 64.2 |
| 1933 | 73 | #774 | 72.4 |
| 1932 | 63 | #885 | 59.0 |
| 1931 | 66 | #848 | 62.0 |
| 1930 | 52 | #1,024 | 46.2 |
| 1929 | 46 | #1,081 | 41.2 |
| 1928 | 65 | #920 | 56.4 |
| 1927 | 45 | #1,145 | 37.7 |
| 1926 | 46 | #1,118 | 38.8 |
| 1925 | 48 | #1,109 | 39.4 |
| 1924 | 64 | #954 | 51.2 |
| 1923 | 37 | #1,290 | 30.7 |
| 1922 | 58 | #982 | 48.3 |
| 1921 | 54 | #1,021 | 43.8 |
| 1920 | 48 | #1,078 | 40.1 |
| 1919 | 49 | #1,030 | 43.4 |
| 1918 | 61 | #919 | 52.7 |
| 1917 | 67 | #837 | 62.0 |
| 1916 | 46 | #1,014 | 44.0 |
| 1915 | 50 | #939 | 50.8 |
| 1914 | 30 | #1,105 | 39.4 |
| 1913 | 24 | #1,129 | 38.4 |
| 1912 | 17 | #1,323 | 30.5 |
| 1911 | 14 | #1,264 | 33.5 |
| 1910 | 11 | #1,460 | 27.7 |
| 1909 | 9 | #1,518 | 25.9 |
| 1908 | 7 | #1,739 | 20.9 |
| 1907 | 18 | #901 | 56.5 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,818 | 20.3 |
| 1905 | 9 | #1,345 | 30.9 |
| 1904 | 17 | #892 | 61.7 |
| 1903 | 10 | #1,158 | 38.2 |
| 1902 | 9 | #1,254 | 34.1 |
| 1901 | 9 | #1,170 | 37.6 |
| 1900 | 11 | #1,191 | 36.7 |
| 1899 | 6 | #1,480 | 25.7 |
| 1898 | 9 | #1,204 | 34.8 |
| 1897 | 16 | #806 | 68.3 |
| 1896 | 8 | #1,247 | 33.6 |
| 1895 | 9 | #1,157 | 38.5 |
| 1893 | 8 | #1,123 | 37.6 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,397 | 27.0 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,357 | 28.0 |
| 1886 | 5 | #1,176 | 34.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Gaynell a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gaynell has been given almost only to girls: 18 boys in 96 years of records.
Girls and boys named Gaynell: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gaynell, and how old are they?
1,980 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 46% of the 4,269 Americans ever recorded as Gaynell. The median Gaynell alive today is 72 years old; half are between 65 and 80.
The 2020 Census counted 2,282 people named Gaynell (2,242 women and girls, 40 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,381 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 442 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 287 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 44 |
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 Gaynell born?
The states with the most babies named Gaynell are Louisiana, Alabama and North Carolina, with 58% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana and Alabama are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | 657 | not ranked | 7.4× |
| Alabama | 337 | not ranked | 3.2× |
| North Carolina | 287 | not ranked | 2.1× |
| Virginia | 241 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| Georgia | 192 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Texas | 151 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Kentucky | 59 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| West Virginia | 55 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| South Carolina | 50 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Tennessee | 50 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Gaynell is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Gaynell is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1910 it was given 7.4 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 Gaynell 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 4,483 babies since 1880, Gaynell is the most given (95% of them).
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 Gaynell
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 Gaynell and names like it
- Compare Gaynell and GaynelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sGaynell peaked in 1952.
- Louisiana’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gaynell since 1910.
- The top names of 1952The year the most babies were named Gaynell.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Gaynell alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with GMost given first.