Gillis
Gillis was last recorded in 2001, when 6 babies were given it; 712 Americans have been recorded with it between 1900 and 2001 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gillis by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Gillis mean?
Wiktionary, Swedish section
Gillis is “a male given name, equivalent to English Giles”
Meaning: Wiktionary, Swedish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Gillis?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #9,679, in 2001; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
20 babies in 1923, the peak
Gillis peaked in 1923, when 20 boys were given it, #1,780 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 6 | #9,679 | 3.1 |
| 1985 | 5 | #6,906 | 2.7 |
| 1982 | 5 | #6,703 | 2.8 |
| 1979 | 7 | #5,020 | 4.1 |
| 1976 | 5 | #5,911 | 3.2 |
| 1974 | 8 | #3,963 | 5.1 |
| 1971 | 5 | #5,188 | 2.8 |
| 1968 | 5 | #4,346 | 2.9 |
| 1967 | 8 | #3,082 | 4.6 |
| 1965 | 7 | #3,359 | 3.8 |
Every recorded year (64)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | 10 | #2,726 | 5.0 |
| 1963 | 13 | #2,357 | 6.4 |
| 1961 | 10 | #2,778 | 4.7 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,176 | 3.8 |
| 1959 | 10 | #2,715 | 4.7 |
| 1958 | 10 | #2,710 | 4.7 |
| 1957 | 8 | #3,111 | 3.7 |
| 1956 | 14 | #2,202 | 6.6 |
| 1955 | 15 | #2,079 | 7.3 |
| 1954 | 10 | #2,644 | 4.9 |
| 1953 | 13 | #2,223 | 6.6 |
| 1952 | 13 | #2,192 | 6.7 |
| 1951 | 20 | #1,694 | 10.6 |
| 1950 | 14 | #2,062 | 7.8 |
| 1949 | 11 | #2,386 | 6.2 |
| 1948 | 13 | #2,154 | 7.4 |
| 1947 | 9 | #2,743 | 4.9 |
| 1946 | 8 | #2,780 | 4.9 |
| 1945 | 17 | #1,649 | 12.6 |
| 1944 | 16 | #1,766 | 11.7 |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,323 | 7.7 |
| 1942 | 15 | #1,898 | 10.9 |
| 1941 | 11 | #2,252 | 9.0 |
| 1940 | 9 | #2,557 | 7.8 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,104 | 10.8 |
| 1938 | 10 | #2,383 | 9.0 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,566 | 8.4 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,306 | 5.8 |
| 1935 | 9 | #2,605 | 8.6 |
| 1934 | 12 | #2,169 | 11.6 |
| 1933 | 16 | #1,791 | 16.1 |
| 1932 | 16 | #1,873 | 15.3 |
| 1931 | 14 | #2,036 | 13.5 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,225 | 11.8 |
| 1929 | 10 | #2,664 | 9.3 |
| 1928 | 14 | #2,200 | 12.6 |
| 1927 | 12 | #2,458 | 10.6 |
| 1926 | 11 | #2,629 | 9.9 |
| 1925 | 12 | #2,490 | 10.8 |
| 1924 | 12 | #2,529 | 10.6 |
| 1923 | 20 | #1,780 | 18.2 |
| 1922 | 18 | #1,918 | 16.5 |
| 1921 | 14 | #2,294 | 12.7 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,170 | 14.1 |
| 1919 | 17 | #1,916 | 17.3 |
| 1918 | 12 | #2,449 | 11.8 |
| 1917 | 8 | #3,040 | 8.6 |
| 1916 | 18 | #1,724 | 20.2 |
| 1915 | 18 | #1,682 | 21.2 |
| 1913 | 8 | #2,160 | 15.6 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,459 | 27.9 |
| 1911 | 5 | #1,841 | 22.1 |
| 1909 | 5 | #1,548 | 30.5 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,392 | 33.2 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Gillis a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gillis has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 64 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Gillis: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gillis, and how old are they?
An estimated 234 Americans named Gillis and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (33% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 62 and 78. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 375 people named Gillis (45 women and girls, 330 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 292 born in the U.S. The Census count is 28% 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.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 5,803 babies since 1880, Gillis is the second most given (12% 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 Gillis
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 Gillis and names like it
- Compare Gillis and GilesBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sGillis peaked in 1923.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gillis since 1910.
- Swedish namesWiktionary’s origin for Gillis: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1923The year the most babies were named Gillis.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Gillis alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with GMost given first.