Gabby
Feminine diminutive form of Gabrielle, meaning "God is my strength."
Name Census estimates that about 1,196 living Americans carry the first name Gabby. It is a predominantly female name (98.7% of registrations). The average person named Gabby today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gabby births was 2022 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gabby. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Gabby with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Gabby is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 286,584 Americans
Peak year
2022
67 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2001 SSA rank
#3,051
Tracked since 1961
Census
Gabby in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,584 people with the first name Gabby, which placed it at #2,370 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,370
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
10,584 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gabby
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gabby is White at 46.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.2%) and Black (8.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Gabby described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Gabby at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.5% · 4,925
- Hispanic or Latino37.2% · 3,939
- Black or African American8.3% · 881
- Two or more races4.2% · 446
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 312
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 81
Gender
Gender distribution for Gabby
Gabby leans heavily female at 98.7% of total registrations, but 16 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Gabby as a male name
- Ranked #11,130 in 2001
- 5 male births in 2001
- Peak: 1987 (6 births)
Gabby as a female name
- Ranked #3,051 in 2024
- 53 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (67 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gabby leans strongly female. 10,349 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 238 male bearers (2.2%).
Popularity
Gabby: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gabby from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 485 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Gabby remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gabby by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Gabby during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gabbys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Gabby, while Ohio, New York, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 47 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gabby
The name Gabby is a diminutive form of the name Gabrielle, which is the French feminine form of the Hebrew name Gabriel. Gabriel is derived from the Biblical Hebrew words "gever" meaning "strong man" or "warrior," and "el" meaning "God." Thus, the name Gabrielle and its shortened form Gabby can be interpreted as meaning "God is my strength" or "warrior of God."
The name Gabriel has its roots in the Old Testament, where it refers to an archangel who serves as a messenger from God to humans. The name first appears in the Book of Daniel, where the angel Gabriel is sent to interpret a vision for the prophet Daniel. Gabriel is also mentioned in the New Testament, where he delivers the news of the impending birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Gabrielle can be found in the 12th century, when it was borne by a French noblewoman named Gabrielle de Montbéliard. However, the name did not become widely popular until the 16th century, when it was used by prominent figures such as the French poet and philosopher Gabrielle d'Estrées, who was a mistress of King Henry IV of France.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures named Gabby or Gabrielle. One of the most famous is Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (1883-1971), the French fashion designer who revolutionized women's clothing and introduced the iconic Chanel suit. Another prominent figure is Gabrielle "Gaby" Deslys (1884-1920), a French actress and dancer who was one of the highest-paid entertainers of her time.
In literature, the name Gabrielle appears in works such as the play "Cyrano de Bergerac" by Edmond Rostand, where it is the name of the beautiful woman Cyrano loves from afar. The name is also associated with the character Gabrielle Suchon in the novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera.
Other notable individuals named Gabby or Gabrielle include Gabrielle "Gabby" Douglas (born 1995), an American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist, and Gabrielle Union (born 1972), an American actress and activist.
People
Gabby + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gabby as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gabby: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gabby?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,196 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gabby going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 286,584 US residents.
Is Gabby a common name?
We classify Gabby as "Rare". It ranks above 91.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,212 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gabby most popular?
The single biggest year for Gabby was 2022, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gabby is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gabby in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,584 people with the name Gabby, or 3.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,370 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Gabby in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Gabby?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gabby leans strongly female. 10,349 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 238 male bearers (2.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Gabby?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gabby is White at 46.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (37.2%) and Black (8.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Gabby most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gabby in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.5% (4,925 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Gabby in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gabby a female name?
Yes, 98.7% of people registered as Gabby in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Gabby still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gabby in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Gabby can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Gabby?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Gabby, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.