Gideon
Gideon was given to 993 boys in 2025, #337 among boys’ names; 22,302 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 21,200 Americans named Gideon and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (95% of everyone recorded); the median is 11 years old and half are between 6 and 18.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gideon by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Gideon mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Gideon is “a male given name from Hebrew, popularized by Puritans.” Its etymology gives the senses “Gideon” (גִּדְעוֹן) and “hewer” (,) and “mighty warrior” (,).
Borrowed from Hebrew גִּדְעוֹן (gid'ón, “Gideon”) (“feller”, “hewer”, “mighty warrior”).
/ˈɡɪd.i.ən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Gideon?
#337 among boys’ names, 2025
Gideon fell from #327 in 2015 to #337 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 0.55 to 0.58 per 1,000.
1,161 babies in 2017, the peak
Gideon peaked in 2017, when 1,161 boys were given it, #304 among boys’ names. The 993 births of 2025 are 86% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 993 | #337 | 0.58 |
| 2024 | 1,054 | #329 | 0.61 |
| 2023 | 1,047 | #318 | 0.61 |
| 2022 | 1,027 | #330 | 0.59 |
| 2021 | 1,084 | #308 | 0.62 |
| 2020 | 1,031 | #321 | 0.60 |
| 2019 | 1,043 | #320 | 0.58 |
| 2018 | 1,108 | #308 | 0.61 |
| 2017 | 1,161 | #304 | 0.63 |
| 2016 | 1,034 | #336 | 0.54 |
Every recorded year (133)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,055 | #327 | 0.55 |
| 2014 | 944 | #348 | 0.49 |
| 2013 | 846 | #367 | 0.45 |
| 2012 | 765 | #391 | 0.40 |
| 2011 | 689 | #411 | 0.36 |
| 2010 | 576 | #460 | 0.30 |
| 2009 | 486 | #544 | 0.25 |
| 2008 | 504 | #530 | 0.25 |
| 2007 | 490 | #526 | 0.24 |
| 2006 | 433 | #575 | 0.21 |
| 2005 | 304 | #684 | 0.15 |
| 2004 | 290 | #688 | 0.15 |
| 2003 | 290 | #674 | 0.15 |
| 2002 | 226 | #763 | 0.12 |
| 2001 | 257 | #698 | 0.13 |
| 2000 | 180 | #874 | 0.09 |
| 1999 | 135 | #1,027 | 0.07 |
| 1998 | 122 | #1,070 | 0.06 |
| 1997 | 121 | #1,049 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 112 | #1,079 | 0.06 |
| 1995 | 137 | #947 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 101 | #1,127 | 0.05 |
| 1993 | 106 | #1,083 | 0.05 |
| 1992 | 82 | #1,246 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 95 | #1,119 | 0.05 |
| 1990 | 78 | #1,251 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 100 | #1,027 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 78 | #1,131 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 80 | #1,066 | 0.04 |
| 1986 | 60 | #1,248 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 51 | #1,362 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 60 | #1,180 | 0.03 |
| 1983 | 48 | #1,350 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 77 | #1,034 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 67 | #1,115 | 0.04 |
| 1980 | 83 | #992 | 0.05 |
| 1979 | 46 | #1,379 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 37 | #1,548 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 42 | #1,414 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 42 | #1,383 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 49 | #1,216 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 44 | #1,276 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 36 | #1,413 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 43 | #1,272 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 37 | #1,407 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 26 | #1,724 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 38 | #1,285 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 22 | #1,709 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 17 | #1,932 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 21 | #1,699 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 17 | #1,951 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 15 | #2,147 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 26 | #1,553 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 23 | #1,688 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 13 | #2,361 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 15 | #2,159 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 20 | #1,828 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 12 | #2,414 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 14 | #2,220 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 20 | #1,772 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 20 | #1,752 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 14 | #2,148 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 15 | #2,064 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 11 | #2,420 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 17 | #1,861 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 17 | #1,840 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 8 | #2,877 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 12 | #2,257 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 17 | #1,873 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 19 | #1,662 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 9 | #2,461 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,719 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,322 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 16 | #1,826 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 8 | #2,732 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,117 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 14 | #1,909 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 11 | #2,244 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 16 | #1,788 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 12 | #2,105 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 9 | #2,604 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 10 | #2,461 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 6 | #3,424 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 10 | #2,524 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 13 | #2,145 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 14 | #2,114 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 29 | #1,324 | 0.03 |
| 1928 | 15 | #2,089 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 26 | #1,491 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 18 | #1,860 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 14 | #2,238 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 24 | #1,595 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 29 | #1,368 | 0.03 |
| 1922 | 18 | #1,917 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 25 | #1,524 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 28 | #1,399 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 26 | #1,422 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 17 | #1,936 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 40 | #1,048 | 0.04 |
| 1916 | 23 | #1,480 | 0.03 |
| 1915 | 16 | #1,821 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 22 | #1,285 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 19 | #1,186 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 14 | #1,299 | 0.03 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,248 | 0.04 |
| 1909 | 11 | #915 | 0.07 |
| 1907 | 6 | #1,252 | 0.04 |
| 1906 | 7 | #1,054 | 0.05 |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,116 | 0.05 |
| 1900 | 11 | #806 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 6 | #979 | 0.06 |
| 1892 | 6 | #1,005 | 0.05 |
| 1891 | 5 | #1,020 | 0.05 |
| 1890 | 7 | #838 | 0.06 |
| 1888 | 13 | #565 | 0.11 |
| 1887 | 8 | #707 | 0.08 |
| 1886 | 10 | #619 | 0.09 |
| 1885 | 13 | #529 | 0.12 |
| 1884 | 9 | #677 | 0.08 |
| 1883 | 5 | #951 | 0.05 |
| 1882 | 6 | #878 | 0.05 |
| 1881 | 7 | #739 | 0.07 |
| 1880 | 10 | #616 | 0.09 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Gideon a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gideon has been given almost only to boys: 32 girls in 133 years of records.
Girls and boys named Gideon: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gideon, and how old are they?
21,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 95% of the 22,302 Americans ever recorded as Gideon. The median Gideon alive today is 11 years old; half are between 6 and 18.
The 2020 Census counted 15,597 people named Gideon (69 women and girls, 15,528 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 15,374 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 39 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 206 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 536 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,270 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5,800 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 13,300 |
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 Gideon born?
The states with the most babies named Gideon are Texas, Ohio and Indiana, with 21% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Indiana is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 103 | #363 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 48 | #261 | 1.2× |
| Indiana | 47 | #182 | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 46 | #216 | 1.2× |
| Florida | 46 | #427 | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 39 | #297 | 1.3× |
| New York | 39 | #437 | 0.7× |
| Missouri | 39 | #186 | 1.3× |
| California | 36 | #738 | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 36 | #299 | 0.7× |
Where Gideon is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Gideon is most over-represented in Alaska: 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 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 Gideon 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 22,362 babies since 1880, Gideon is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 993 of their 993 babies (100%), 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 Gideon
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 Gideon and names like it
- Compare Gideon and GiddeonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sGideon peaked in 2017.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gideon since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Gideon: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2017The year the most babies were named Gideon.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Gideon alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with GMost given first.