Gladys
Gladys was given to 49 girls in 2025, #3,224 among girls’ names; 267,741 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 44,200 Americans named Gladys and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (17% of everyone recorded); the median is 73 years old and half are between 57 and 84.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Gladys by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Gladys mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Gladys is “a female given name from Welsh.” Its etymology gives the sense “country” (gwlad).
Anglicized from Welsh Gwladus, of uncertain origin, perhaps connected with gwlad (“country”).
/ˈɡlædɪs/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Gladys?
#3,224 among girls’ names, 2025
Gladys fell from #2,265 in 2015 to #3,224 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 46.5 to 30.5 per million.
8,837 babies in 1921, the peak
Gladys peaked in 1921, when 8,837 babies were given it (8,814 girls, #24 among girls’ names). The 49 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 49 | #3,224 | 0.03 |
| 2024 | 45 | #3,473 | 0.03 |
| 2023 | 61 | #2,796 | 0.04 |
| 2022 | 64 | #2,709 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 62 | #2,760 | 0.04 |
| 2020 | 78 | #2,293 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 64 | #2,693 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 45 | #3,453 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 73 | #2,472 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 72 | #2,508 | 0.04 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 83 | #2,265 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 74 | #2,453 | 0.04 |
| 2013 | 69 | #2,578 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 81 | #2,322 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 81 | #2,306 | 0.05 |
| 2010 | 103 | #1,950 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 120 | #1,797 | 0.07 |
| 2008 | 135 | #1,659 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 160 | #1,462 | 0.08 |
| 2006 | 207 | #1,175 | 0.11 |
| 2005 | 203 | #1,145 | 0.11 |
| 2004 | 186 | #1,202 | 0.10 |
| 2003 | 190 | #1,140 | 0.10 |
| 2002 | 198 | #1,073 | 0.11 |
| 2001 | 184 | #1,135 | 0.10 |
| 2000 | 184 | #1,106 | 0.10 |
| 1999 | 214 | #965 | 0.12 |
| 1998 | 192 | #1,033 | 0.11 |
| 1997 | 250 | #830 | 0.14 |
| 1996 | 277 | #766 | 0.16 |
| 1995 | 282 | #725 | 0.16 |
| 1994 | 288 | #720 | 0.16 |
| 1993 | 322 | #679 | 0.18 |
| 1992 | 313 | #690 | 0.17 |
| 1991 | 332 | #660 | 0.18 |
| 1990 | 448 | #528 | 0.24 |
| 1989 | 265 | #743 | 0.14 |
| 1988 | 243 | #771 | 0.14 |
| 1987 | 236 | #763 | 0.14 |
| 1986 | 231 | #753 | 0.13 |
| 1985 | 256 | #692 | 0.15 |
| 1984 | 226 | #724 | 0.13 |
| 1983 | 216 | #753 | 0.13 |
| 1982 | 291 | #618 | 0.17 |
| 1981 | 255 | #680 | 0.15 |
| 1980 | 290 | #629 | 0.17 |
| 1979 | 237 | #714 | 0.15 |
| 1978 | 201 | #767 | 0.13 |
| 1977 | 270 | #623 | 0.18 |
| 1976 | 257 | #610 | 0.18 |
| 1975 | 310 | #551 | 0.21 |
| 1974 | 268 | #591 | 0.18 |
| 1973 | 270 | #585 | 0.19 |
| 1972 | 244 | #632 | 0.16 |
| 1971 | 343 | #534 | 0.21 |
| 1970 | 366 | #523 | 0.21 |
| 1969 | 398 | #488 | 0.24 |
| 1968 | 381 | #496 | 0.23 |
| 1967 | 441 | #453 | 0.27 |
| 1966 | 434 | #450 | 0.26 |
| 1965 | 581 | #378 | 0.33 |
| 1964 | 625 | #385 | 0.33 |
| 1963 | 690 | #361 | 0.36 |
| 1962 | 714 | #356 | 0.36 |
| 1961 | 824 | #327 | 0.41 |
| 1960 | 860 | #320 | 0.43 |
| 1959 | 844 | #321 | 0.42 |
| 1958 | 955 | #290 | 0.47 |
| 1957 | 1,068 | #265 | 0.52 |
| 1956 | 1,174 | #243 | 0.58 |
| 1955 | 1,226 | #231 | 0.63 |
| 1954 | 1,264 | #226 | 0.65 |
| 1953 | 1,369 | #216 | 0.73 |
| 1952 | 1,304 | #215 | 0.70 |
| 1951 | 1,451 | #199 | 0.81 |
| 1950 | 1,526 | #182 | 0.89 |
| 1949 | 1,545 | #178 | 0.90 |
| 1948 | 1,602 | #173 | 0.94 |
| 1947 | 1,819 | #165 | 1.0 |
| 1946 | 1,715 | #157 | 1.1 |
| 1945 | 1,708 | #141 | 1.3 |
| 1944 | 1,901 | #137 | 1.4 |
| 1943 | 2,113 | #131 | 1.5 |
| 1942 | 2,192 | #127 | 1.6 |
| 1941 | 2,222 | #118 | 1.8 |
| 1940 | 2,246 | #116 | 2.0 |
| 1939 | 2,415 | #104 | 2.2 |
| 1938 | 2,591 | #103 | 2.3 |
| 1937 | 2,872 | #86 | 2.7 |
| 1936 | 2,944 | #84 | 2.8 |
| 1935 | 3,147 | #78 | 3.0 |
| 1934 | 3,611 | #66 | 3.5 |
| 1933 | 3,581 | #60 | 3.6 |
| 1932 | 4,185 | #54 | 3.9 |
| 1931 | 4,350 | #55 | 4.1 |
| 1930 | 5,066 | #48 | 4.5 |
| 1929 | 5,327 | #44 | 4.8 |
| 1928 | 5,791 | #41 | 5.0 |
| 1927 | 6,418 | #37 | 5.4 |
| 1926 | 6,634 | #35 | 5.6 |
| 1925 | 7,231 | #33 | 5.9 |
| 1924 | 7,790 | #30 | 6.2 |
| 1923 | 7,695 | #29 | 6.4 |
| 1922 | 8,042 | #25 | 6.7 |
| 1921 | 8,814 | #24 | 7.1 |
| 1920 | 8,819 | #22 | 7.4 |
| 1919 | 8,717 | #21 | 7.7 |
| 1918 | 8,734 | #22 | 7.5 |
| 1917 | 8,075 | #23 | 7.5 |
| 1916 | 8,019 | #22 | 7.7 |
| 1915 | 7,857 | #21 | 8.0 |
| 1914 | 6,227 | #20 | 8.2 |
| 1913 | 5,428 | #19 | 8.7 |
| 1912 | 4,980 | #19 | 8.9 |
| 1911 | 3,933 | #18 | 9.4 |
| 1910 | 3,842 | #15 | 9.7 |
| 1909 | 3,538 | #15 | 10.2 |
| 1908 | 3,580 | #15 | 10.7 |
| 1907 | 3,303 | #14 | 10.4 |
| 1906 | 3,000 | #16 | 10.2 |
| 1905 | 2,996 | #14 | 10.3 |
| 1904 | 2,976 | #14 | 10.8 |
| 1903 | 2,674 | #14 | 10.2 |
| 1902 | 2,809 | #12 | 10.6 |
| 1901 | 2,676 | #11 | 11.2 |
| 1900 | 2,733 | #21 | 9.1 |
| 1899 | 2,228 | #20 | 9.6 |
| 1898 | 2,136 | #27 | 8.3 |
| 1897 | 1,737 | #32 | 7.4 |
| 1896 | 1,757 | #33 | 7.4 |
| 1895 | 1,464 | #41 | 6.3 |
| 1894 | 1,258 | #47 | 5.6 |
| 1893 | 1,017 | #58 | 4.8 |
| 1892 | 867 | #65 | 4.1 |
| 1891 | 633 | #70 | 3.4 |
| 1890 | 525 | #82 | 2.8 |
| 1889 | 414 | #96 | 2.3 |
| 1888 | 314 | #117 | 1.8 |
| 1887 | 201 | #134 | 1.4 |
| 1886 | 131 | #176 | 0.91 |
| 1885 | 91 | #197 | 0.68 |
| 1884 | 92 | #193 | 0.71 |
| 1883 | 71 | #207 | 0.63 |
| 1882 | 46 | #257 | 0.43 |
| 1881 | 40 | #253 | 0.44 |
| 1880 | 20 | #370 | 0.22 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Gladys a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Gladys has been given almost only to girls: 1,023 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Gladys: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Gladys, and how old are they?
44,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 17% of the 267,741 Americans ever recorded as Gladys. The median Gladys alive today is 73 years old; half are between 57 and 84.
The 2020 Census counted 81,883 people named Gladys (81,738 women and girls, 145 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 60,683 born in the U.S. The Census count is 35% 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 | 13,700 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 17,000 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,890 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,380 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 2,660 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 834 |
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 Gladys born?
The states with the most babies named Gladys are New York, Pennsylvania and Texas, with 20% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 16,425 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 13,445 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 13,378 | #3,056 | 1.1× |
| North Carolina | 10,727 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Georgia | 9,513 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Virginia | 8,986 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 8,527 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Alabama | 7,920 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Tennessee | 7,803 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Kentucky | 7,628 | not ranked | 1.3× |
Where Gladys is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Gladys is most over-represented in Virginia: since 1910 it was given 1.6 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 Gladys 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 271,517 babies since 1880, Gladys is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 49 of their 60 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 Gladys
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 Gladys and names like it
- Compare Gladys and GladisBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sGladys peaked in 1921.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Gladys since 1910.
- Welsh namesWiktionary’s origin for Gladys: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Gladys.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Gladys alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with GMost given first.