Gemma
Gemma was given to 1,805 girls in 2025, #170 among girls’ names; 26,042 Americans have been recorded with it since 1904 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 25,100 Americans named Gemma and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 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 Gemma by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Gemma mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Gemma is “a female given name from Italian.” Its etymology gives the sense “jewel” (gemma).
Ultimately from Latin gemma (“jewel”). The given name is mostly borrowed via Italian Gemma; the spelling Jemma in particular is associated with James. Doublet of gemma and gem.
/ˈd͡ʒɛmə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Gemma?
#170 among girls’ names, 2025
Gemma rose from #269 in 2015 to #170 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.66 to 1.1 per 1,000.
1,805 babies in 2025, the peak
Gemma peaked in 2025, when 1,805 girls were given it, #170 among girls’ names. In 2024 it went to 1,517 girls.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,805 | #170 | 1.1 |
| 2024 | 1,517 | #203 | 0.94 |
| 2023 | 1,655 | #176 | 1.0 |
| 2022 | 1,509 | #197 | 0.92 |
| 2021 | 1,554 | #190 | 0.95 |
| 2020 | 1,388 | #208 | 0.86 |
| 2019 | 1,526 | #198 | 0.91 |
| 2018 | 1,384 | #228 | 0.81 |
| 2017 | 1,254 | #255 | 0.73 |
| 2016 | 1,274 | #247 | 0.72 |
Every recorded year (121)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,174 | #269 | 0.66 |
| 2014 | 1,219 | #272 | 0.68 |
| 2013 | 1,026 | #316 | 0.58 |
| 2012 | 1,017 | #319 | 0.58 |
| 2011 | 910 | #352 | 0.52 |
| 2010 | 683 | #451 | 0.38 |
| 2009 | 542 | #563 | 0.30 |
| 2008 | 314 | #887 | 0.17 |
| 2007 | 218 | #1,168 | 0.11 |
| 2006 | 210 | #1,160 | 0.11 |
| 2005 | 201 | #1,154 | 0.11 |
| 2004 | 147 | #1,417 | 0.08 |
| 2003 | 154 | #1,327 | 0.08 |
| 2002 | 175 | #1,175 | 0.10 |
| 2001 | 155 | #1,269 | 0.09 |
| 2000 | 107 | #1,651 | 0.06 |
| 1999 | 140 | #1,298 | 0.08 |
| 1998 | 111 | #1,519 | 0.06 |
| 1997 | 75 | #1,932 | 0.04 |
| 1996 | 69 | #2,022 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 97 | #1,564 | 0.06 |
| 1994 | 80 | #1,798 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 81 | #1,802 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 59 | #2,246 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 56 | #2,298 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 62 | #2,103 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 45 | #2,534 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 55 | #2,098 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 56 | #1,997 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 47 | #2,202 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 40 | #2,450 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 35 | #2,638 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 39 | #2,405 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 32 | #2,855 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 37 | #2,537 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 46 | #2,201 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 27 | #3,098 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 30 | #2,761 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 31 | #2,683 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 32 | #2,502 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 24 | #2,993 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 29 | #2,572 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 21 | #3,153 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 24 | #2,839 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 30 | #2,501 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 26 | #2,727 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 24 | #2,728 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 26 | #2,449 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 26 | #2,393 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 19 | #2,872 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 40 | #1,812 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 29 | #2,265 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 45 | #1,725 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 28 | #2,280 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 28 | #2,263 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 35 | #1,933 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 45 | #1,623 | 0.02 |
| 1958 | 27 | #2,177 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 27 | #2,132 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 38 | #1,724 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 24 | #2,239 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 23 | #2,258 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 26 | #2,042 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 31 | #1,796 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 31 | #1,748 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 41 | #1,436 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 37 | #1,519 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 39 | #1,476 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 14 | #2,808 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 14 | #2,652 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 21 | #1,844 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 11 | #2,828 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 17 | #2,182 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 15 | #2,337 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 10 | #2,910 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 20 | #1,808 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,472 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 10 | #2,794 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 17 | #1,950 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 14 | #2,188 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,623 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 12 | #2,477 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 15 | #2,089 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,711 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 20 | #1,765 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 16 | #2,140 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,489 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 13 | #2,543 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 13 | #2,609 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 18 | #2,105 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 26 | #1,660 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 32 | #1,485 | 0.03 |
| 1923 | 27 | #1,609 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 20 | #1,980 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 21 | #1,945 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 30 | #1,484 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 24 | #1,667 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 26 | #1,584 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 28 | #1,416 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 19 | #1,827 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 25 | #1,458 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 23 | #1,317 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 11 | #1,947 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 16 | #1,381 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 12 | #1,404 | 0.03 |
| 1910 | 6 | #2,244 | 0.02 |
| 1909 | 12 | #1,244 | 0.03 |
| 1908 | 5 | #2,239 | 0.01 |
| 1907 | 8 | #1,556 | 0.03 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,819 | 0.02 |
| 1904 | 5 | #1,995 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Gemma a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gemma has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 121 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Gemma: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gemma, and how old are they?
25,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 26,042 Americans ever recorded as Gemma. The median Gemma alive today is 9 years old; half are between 4 and 14.
The 2020 Census counted 19,024 people named Gemma (18,991 women and girls, 33 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 16,210 born in the U.S. The Census count is 17% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 78 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 455 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 423 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 867 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5,110 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 18,200 |
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 Gemma born?
The states with the most babies named Gemma are California, Texas and New York, with 29% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 221 | #136 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 158 | #217 | 0.7× |
| New York | 142 | #105 | 1.1× |
| Florida | 94 | #196 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 92 | #110 | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 67 | #148 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 66 | #167 | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 65 | #116 | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 55 | #154 | 0.8× |
| Washington | 51 | #133 | 1.2× |
Where Gemma is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Gemma is most over-represented in Pennsylvania: since 1910 it was given 1.3 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 Gemma 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 36,963 babies since 1880, Gemma is the most given (70% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,805 of their 2,214 babies (82%), again the most given.
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 Gemma
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 Gemma and names like it
- Compare Gemma and JemmaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sGemma peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gemma since 1910.
- Italian namesWiktionary’s origin for Gemma: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Gemma.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Gemma alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with GMost given first.