Meaning not yet researched.
Gale: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 13 in 2025. Its best rank was #321 in 1939.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #321 in 1939; #6,581 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Gale in 2025 was a boy.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#6,581 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 1939, at #321.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Gale: US boys and girls given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 13 boys in 2025. Peak: #321 in 1939 · most boys in one year: 377 (1947).
In 2025, 13 US boys were named Gale, making it the 6,581st most common boys’ name of the year, up 2 places from #6,583 in 2024. That is 0 more than the 13 boys named Gale in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #321, reached in 1939. The most boys given the name in a single year was 377, in 1947. For comparison, it was #9,016 in 2015 and #372 in 1950.
Fewer than five US girls were named Gale in 2025, so it does not appear in that year’s SSA list for girls. Its best rank for girls was #244, reached in 1957. That year also had the most girls given the name: 1,210. For comparison, it was unranked (under five girls) in 2015 and #301 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Gale in 128 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1883 with 5 babies. In all, 32,343 US babies have been given the name, 62% of them girls and 38% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1950s, with 11,774 babies named Gale.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 93 US boys were named Gale; the busiest of those years was 2023, with 15. In 2025 that was about 1 in 131,390 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Related spellings in the SSA files include Gail (210,698 babies since 1880), Gayle (66,308 babies since 1880) and Gael (49,752 babies since 1880).
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Wikidata records this spelling as a given name in English. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Gale in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | — | 13 | #6,581 |
| 2024 | — | — | 13 | #6,583 |
| 2023 | 5 | #15,986 | 15 | #6,028 |
| 2022 | — | — | 6 | #11,327 |
| 2020 | — | — | 7 | #9,904 |
| 2019 | 7 | #12,902 | 7 | #10,094 |
| 2018 | — | — | 14 | #6,136 |
| 2017 | 5 | #16,709 | 10 | #7,773 |
| 2016 | — | — | 8 | #9,120 |
| 2015 | — | — | 8 | #9,016 |
| 2014 | — | — | 9 | #8,364 |
| 2013 | 6 | #15,257 | 8 | #9,064 |
| 2011 | 6 | #15,470 | — | — |
| 2008 | — | — | 5 | #13,177 |
| 2007 | — | — | 7 | #10,127 |
| 2005 | 8 | #12,208 | 5 | #12,027 |
| 2003 | — | — | 7 | #8,979 |
| 2002 | — | — | 5 | #11,263 |
| 2000 | 5 | #15,860 | 8 | #7,692 |
| 1999 | 6 | #13,241 | — | — |
| 1998 | 8 | #10,436 | — | — |
| 1997 | — | — | 6 | #8,520 |
| 1996 | 5 | #14,246 | 6 | #8,285 |
| 1995 | 7 | #10,897 | — | — |
| 1994 | 5 | #14,170 | 10 | #5,593 |
| 1993 | — | — | 13 | #4,537 |
| 1992 | 7 | #10,859 | 8 | #6,324 |
| 1991 | 9 | #8,833 | 10 | #5,230 |
| 1990 | 11 | #7,483 | 8 | #6,027 |
| 1989 | 9 | #8,258 | 13 | #4,111 |
| 1988 | 9 | #7,917 | 9 | #4,926 |
| 1987 | 14 | #5,392 | 9 | #4,689 |
| 1986 | 18 | #4,414 | 7 | #5,533 |
| 1985 | 21 | #3,894 | 11 | #3,888 |
| 1984 | 10 | #6,445 | 15 | #3,006 |
| 1983 | 25 | #3,269 | 11 | #3,707 |
| 1982 | 35 | #2,658 | 13 | #3,361 |
| 1981 | 19 | #4,049 | 27 | #2,011 |
| 1980 | 31 | #2,890 | 19 | #2,571 |
| 1979 | 27 | #3,097 | 19 | #2,496 |
| 1978 | 33 | #2,585 | 18 | #2,509 |
| 1977 | 36 | #2,436 | 20 | #2,297 |
| 1976 | 41 | #2,111 | 23 | #2,072 |
| 1975 | 56 | #1,692 | 31 | #1,642 |
| 1974 | 65 | #1,503 | 48 | #1,206 |
| 1973 | 71 | #1,391 | 48 | #1,191 |
| 1972 | 96 | #1,141 | 38 | #1,371 |
| 1971 | 97 | #1,182 | 63 | #1,029 |
| 1970 | 128 | #981 | 53 | #1,136 |
| 1969 | 155 | #829 | 68 | #930 |
| 1968 | 160 | #792 | 54 | #1,009 |
| 1967 | 206 | #669 | 65 | #896 |
| 1966 | 234 | #621 | 65 | #899 |
| 1965 | 234 | #640 | 81 | #821 |
| 1964 | 290 | #583 | 89 | #802 |
| 1963 | 324 | #538 | 91 | #796 |
| 1962 | 329 | #539 | 94 | #787 |
| 1961 | 478 | #446 | 101 | #770 |
| 1960 | 587 | #393 | 129 | #691 |
| 1959 | 852 | #320 | 110 | #730 |
| 1958 | 1,052 | #272 | 136 | #661 |
| 1957 | 1,210 | #244 | 154 | #619 |
| 1956 | 1,077 | #255 | 193 | #544 |
| 1955 | 1,030 | #260 | 199 | #517 |
| 1954 | 1,015 | #259 | 254 | #454 |
| 1953 | 947 | #264 | 263 | #438 |
| 1952 | 820 | #283 | 324 | #381 |
| 1951 | 814 | #275 | 329 | #375 |
| 1950 | 662 | #301 | 333 | #372 |
| 1949 | 591 | #319 | 314 | #381 |
| 1948 | 601 | #315 | 349 | #361 |
| 1947 | 796 | #271 | 377 | #352 |
| 1946 | 566 | #310 | 305 | #372 |
| 1945 | 447 | #321 | 287 | #352 |
| 1944 | 382 | #353 | 283 | #355 |
| 1943 | 425 | #348 | 302 | #351 |
| 1942 | 365 | #369 | 298 | #352 |
| 1941 | 338 | #365 | 287 | #341 |
| 1940 | 389 | #323 | 307 | #323 |
| 1939 | 288 | #394 | 291 | #321 |
| 1938 | 152 | #553 | 292 | #324 |
| 1937 | 147 | #556 | 284 | #322 |
| 1936 | 122 | #597 | 250 | #345 |
| 1935 | 122 | #587 | 244 | #351 |
| 1934 | 78 | #757 | 262 | #336 |
| 1933 | 40 | #1,105 | 213 | #372 |
| 1932 | 42 | #1,101 | 224 | #372 |
| 1931 | 20 | #1,765 | 169 | #435 |
| 1930 | 29 | #1,444 | 199 | #419 |
| 1929 | 29 | #1,428 | 168 | #456 |
| 1928 | 36 | #1,275 | 181 | #447 |
| 1927 | 38 | #1,286 | 241 | #380 |
| 1926 | 38 | #1,270 | 192 | #437 |
| 1925 | 29 | #1,547 | 190 | #435 |
| 1924 | 27 | #1,655 | 243 | #384 |
| 1923 | 32 | #1,438 | 232 | #390 |
| 1922 | 26 | #1,656 | 180 | #463 |
| 1921 | 41 | #1,210 | 205 | #423 |
| 1920 | 35 | #1,325 | 176 | #457 |
| 1919 | 25 | #1,620 | 145 | #494 |
| 1918 | 22 | #1,775 | 155 | #475 |
| 1917 | 20 | #1,799 | 123 | #521 |
| 1916 | 26 | #1,459 | 114 | #538 |
| 1915 | 23 | #1,541 | 104 | #552 |
| 1914 | 17 | #1,622 | 89 | #520 |
| 1913 | 8 | #2,413 | 59 | #568 |
| 1912 | 9 | #2,038 | 42 | #653 |
| 1911 | 11 | #1,489 | 22 | #677 |
| 1910 | 7 | #2,009 | 12 | #948 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,655 | 22 | #561 |
| 1908 | 9 | #1,474 | 19 | #599 |
| 1907 | — | — | 15 | #679 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,591 | 11 | #761 |
| 1904 | — | — | 6 | #1,120 |
| 1903 | — | — | 12 | #671 |
| 1902 | — | — | 9 | #815 |
| 1901 | — | — | 11 | #653 |
| 1900 | 10 | #1,262 | 10 | #865 |
| 1898 | — | — | 6 | #1,053 |
| 1897 | 6 | #1,441 | 13 | #591 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,672 | — | — |
| 1895 | — | — | 6 | #1,017 |
| 1894 | — | — | 12 | #603 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,509 | 11 | #628 |
| 1890 | — | — | 5 | #1,057 |
| 1888 | — | — | 5 | #1,090 |
| 1887 | — | — | 6 | #861 |
| 1883 | — | — | 5 | #949 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).