Recorded 1889–2025 · United States
Galen was most popular in 1949, when 441 American babies were given the name — ranking #695 that year. In 2025 it ranked #9,389, with 23 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 17,060 people named Galen.
Galen first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1889, which makes it about 136 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 128 of the 137 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 17,060 American births named Galen 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 11,400 are estimated to be alive today.
23 American babies were named Galen in 2025, ranking #9,389 that year.
Galen is holding steady. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 41 births a year, against 49 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -17% over the decade.
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 Galen is a boy’s name — 3.3% of the 17,060 Americans given it were girls and 96.7% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 0% girls and 100% 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 11,400 Americans named Galen are alive today — 67% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 54 years old, and half are between 35 and 70. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
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.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Galen on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org