Recorded 1881–2025 · United States
Gail was most popular in 1951, when 10,066 American babies were given the name — ranking #69 that year. In 2025 it ranked #14,309, with 12 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 210,698 people named Gail.
Gail first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1881, which makes it about 144 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 145 of the 145 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 210,698 American births named Gail between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 148,535 are estimated to be alive today.
12 American babies were named Gail in 2025, ranking #14,309 that year.
Gail is too rare for a direction to mean much. It averaged 17 births a year across 2021–2025 against 18 a year a decade earlier — at these counts a single baby moves the percentage, and any year under five births is withheld at source.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Gail is a girl’s name — 95.8% of the 210,698 Americans given it were girls and 4.2% were boys. It changed hands: since 1929 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 100% girls and 0% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 148,535 Americans named Gail are alive today — 70% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 72 years old, and half are between 66 and 77. That is a narrow band: Gail arrived and faded within about a decade rather than staying in steady use.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Hebrew · short form of Abigail
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Gail on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org