Meaning not yet researched.
Galen: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 23 in 2025. Its best rank was #329 in 1949.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #329 in 1949; #4,442 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Galen in 2025 was a boy.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#4,442 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 1949, at #329.
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.
Galen: US boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 23 boys in 2025. Peak: #329 in 1949 · most boys in one year: 433 (1949).
In 2025, 23 US boys were named Galen, making it the 4,442nd most common boys’ name of the year, down 1,678 places from #2,764 in 2024. That is 24 fewer than the 47 boys named Galen in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #329, reached in 1949. That year also had the most boys given the name: 433. For comparison, it was #2,619 in 2015 and #374 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Galen in 128 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1889 with 6 babies. In all, 17,060 US babies have been given the name, 3.3% of them girls and 97% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1950s, with 3,013 babies named Galen.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 442 US boys were named Galen; the busiest of those years was 2018, with 57. In 2025 that was about 1 in 74,264 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Related spellings in the SSA files include Gaylon (3,696 babies since 1880), Gaylene (2,570 babies since 1880) and Gaylen (2,373 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Gayleen, Gaylan and Gaylyn are summarised on this page.
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.
Rare spellings summarised here: Gayleen (565), Gaylan (527), Gaylyn (303), Gailen (256), Gaylin (191), Gaelen (174), Gailyn (135), Gaelan (131), Galyn (89), Galan (81), Gaelyn (64), Gailene (62), and more.
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 Galen 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 | — | — | 23 | #4,442 |
| 2024 | — | — | 47 | #2,764 |
| 2023 | — | — | 38 | #3,194 |
| 2022 | — | — | 51 | #2,627 |
| 2021 | — | — | 45 | #2,789 |
| 2020 | — | — | 45 | #2,738 |
| 2019 | — | — | 49 | #2,634 |
| 2018 | — | — | 57 | #2,329 |
| 2017 | — | — | 55 | #2,358 |
| 2016 | — | — | 32 | #3,467 |
| 2015 | — | — | 47 | #2,619 |
| 2014 | — | — | 62 | #2,184 |
| 2013 | — | — | 50 | #2,475 |
| 2012 | — | — | 55 | #2,339 |
| 2011 | — | — | 31 | #3,460 |
| 2010 | — | — | 59 | #2,218 |
| 2009 | — | — | 51 | #2,496 |
| 2008 | — | — | 57 | #2,302 |
| 2007 | — | — | 46 | #2,661 |
| 2006 | — | — | 66 | #2,021 |
| 2005 | 6 | #15,129 | 80 | #1,679 |
| 2004 | — | — | 85 | #1,560 |
| 2003 | 7 | #12,870 | 93 | #1,422 |
| 2002 | 10 | #9,747 | 103 | #1,303 |
| 2001 | 6 | #14,119 | 94 | #1,361 |
| 2000 | — | — | 116 | #1,179 |
| 1999 | 11 | #8,417 | 122 | #1,097 |
| 1998 | 19 | #5,440 | 133 | #1,019 |
| 1997 | 17 | #5,704 | 114 | #1,112 |
| 1996 | 16 | #5,877 | 143 | #917 |
| 1995 | 16 | #5,775 | 152 | #888 |
| 1994 | 15 | #6,097 | 151 | #881 |
| 1993 | 25 | #4,142 | 152 | #858 |
| 1992 | 24 | #4,284 | 148 | #867 |
| 1991 | 10 | #8,173 | 156 | #829 |
| 1990 | 19 | #4,925 | 176 | #766 |
| 1989 | 12 | #6,670 | 161 | #782 |
| 1988 | 12 | #6,399 | 147 | #778 |
| 1987 | 8 | #8,244 | 164 | #712 |
| 1986 | 8 | #7,977 | 184 | #661 |
| 1985 | 12 | #5,772 | 159 | #699 |
| 1984 | 8 | #7,615 | 151 | #710 |
| 1983 | 8 | #7,523 | 143 | #723 |
| 1982 | 10 | #6,515 | 126 | #784 |
| 1981 | 11 | #6,013 | 150 | #707 |
| 1980 | 9 | #6,968 | 157 | #694 |
| 1979 | 5 | #10,704 | 152 | #693 |
| 1978 | 7 | #7,891 | 154 | #675 |
| 1977 | 8 | #7,087 | 135 | #738 |
| 1976 | 5 | #9,766 | 138 | #713 |
| 1975 | 8 | #6,702 | 183 | #596 |
| 1974 | 13 | #4,540 | 138 | #698 |
| 1973 | — | — | 154 | #642 |
| 1972 | 6 | #7,579 | 185 | #585 |
| 1971 | — | — | 191 | #603 |
| 1970 | 7 | #6,561 | 212 | #557 |
| 1969 | 6 | #6,897 | 187 | #575 |
| 1968 | 8 | #5,291 | 182 | #564 |
| 1967 | 9 | #4,731 | 174 | #570 |
| 1966 | 6 | #6,035 | 173 | #575 |
| 1965 | 9 | #4,606 | 164 | #594 |
| 1964 | 8 | #5,158 | 215 | #535 |
| 1963 | 6 | #6,098 | 201 | #558 |
| 1962 | 5 | #6,899 | 213 | #545 |
| 1961 | 5 | #6,891 | 228 | #525 |
| 1960 | — | — | 220 | #533 |
| 1959 | 8 | #4,759 | 246 | #500 |
| 1958 | — | — | 245 | #496 |
| 1957 | 6 | #5,623 | 262 | #481 |
| 1956 | 7 | #4,996 | 284 | #449 |
| 1955 | 5 | #6,152 | 293 | #428 |
| 1954 | 8 | #4,401 | 307 | #409 |
| 1953 | 14 | #2,981 | 293 | #408 |
| 1952 | 14 | #2,962 | 304 | #395 |
| 1951 | 7 | #4,520 | 378 | #352 |
| 1950 | 6 | #4,925 | 326 | #374 |
| 1949 | 8 | #3,999 | 433 | #329 |
| 1948 | 11 | #3,211 | 342 | #367 |
| 1947 | 7 | #4,491 | 299 | #398 |
| 1946 | 7 | #4,140 | 210 | #436 |
| 1945 | 7 | #3,786 | 198 | #424 |
| 1944 | 5 | #4,804 | 214 | #411 |
| 1943 | 15 | #2,380 | 204 | #441 |
| 1942 | — | — | 204 | #431 |
| 1941 | — | — | 171 | #450 |
| 1940 | — | — | 170 | #444 |
| 1939 | — | — | 169 | #439 |
| 1938 | 5 | #4,562 | 157 | #462 |
| 1937 | — | — | 138 | #485 |
| 1936 | — | — | 139 | #479 |
| 1935 | — | — | 140 | #480 |
| 1934 | — | — | 136 | #493 |
| 1933 | — | — | 128 | #497 |
| 1932 | — | — | 122 | #528 |
| 1931 | — | — | 119 | #534 |
| 1930 | — | — | 104 | #595 |
| 1929 | — | — | 122 | #530 |
| 1928 | — | — | 101 | #609 |
| 1927 | — | — | 124 | #554 |
| 1926 | — | — | 103 | #619 |
| 1925 | — | — | 110 | #601 |
| 1924 | — | — | 99 | #645 |
| 1923 | — | — | 114 | #591 |
| 1922 | — | — | 90 | #688 |
| 1921 | — | — | 95 | #666 |
| 1920 | — | — | 81 | #723 |
| 1919 | — | — | 79 | #709 |
| 1918 | — | — | 72 | #768 |
| 1917 | — | — | 69 | #754 |
| 1916 | — | — | 75 | #686 |
| 1915 | — | — | 62 | #763 |
| 1914 | — | — | 61 | #646 |
| 1913 | — | — | 41 | #725 |
| 1912 | — | — | 39 | #682 |
| 1911 | — | — | 9 | #1,225 |
| 1910 | — | — | 12 | #949 |
| 1909 | — | — | 7 | #1,197 |
| 1908 | — | — | 8 | #1,051 |
| 1907 | — | — | 9 | #954 |
| 1906 | — | — | 10 | #816 |
| 1905 | — | — | 6 | #1,149 |
| 1904 | — | — | 5 | #1,275 |
| 1900 | — | — | 7 | #1,089 |
| 1899 | — | — | 5 | #1,103 |
| 1898 | — | — | 6 | #1,054 |
| 1896 | — | — | 5 | #1,159 |
| 1895 | — | — | 8 | #823 |
| 1889 | — | — | 6 | #917 |
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).