Galadriel
A female Sindarin name meaning "maiden crowned with a radiant garland".
Name Census estimates that about 208 living Americans carry the first name Galadriel. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Galadriel today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Galadriel births was 2003 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Galadriel. 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.
People living today
208
~ 1 in 1,647,857 Americans
Peak year
2003
15 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,697
Tracked since 1969
Census
Galadriel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 218 people with the first name Galadriel, which placed it at #36,419 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
#36,419
National first-name rank
People counted
218
218 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Galadriel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Galadriel is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.9%) and Hispanic (10.1%). 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 Galadriel 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 Galadriel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.3% · 162
- Two or more races11.9% · 26
- Hispanic or Latino10.1% · 22
- Black or African American1.8% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 4
Popularity
Galadriel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Galadriel from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 81 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Galadriel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Galadriel 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 Galadriel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Galadriels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Galadriel
The name Galadriel is a fictional name created by J.R.R. Tolkien for the character of the same name in his novels set in the world of Middle-earth. It is derived from the Sindarin Elvish language invented by Tolkien, with elements from the words "galad" meaning "radiant" and "riel" meaning "garlanded maiden".
Tolkien's works, particularly The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, introduced the name Galadriel to the world and popularized it as a feminine name. Within the lore of Middle-earth, Galadriel was a powerful Elf-queen who ruled over the Elven realm of Lothlórien and possessed one of the three Elven rings of power.
Although Galadriel is a fictional name, it has gained recognition and usage as a given name in the real world, particularly among fans of Tolkien's works and those drawn to its unique and melodic sound. However, since it is a constructed name, it does not have any recorded historical usage or references prior to Tolkien's writings in the 20th century.
While the name Galadriel itself does not have a long historical lineage, it has been adopted by a number of individuals since the popularity of The Lord of the Rings books and films. Some notable individuals named Galadriel include Galadriel Stineman, an American singer-songwriter born in 1985, and Galadriel Cashman, a Canadian actress born in 2004.
As a constructed name, Galadriel does not have any direct historical references or appearances in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records prior to Tolkien's works. Its popularity and usage as a given name can be attributed solely to the influence and cultural impact of Tolkien's literary creations in the 20th century.
People
Galadriel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Galadriel 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
Galadriel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Galadriel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 208 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Galadriel 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 1,647,857 US residents.
Is Galadriel a common name?
We classify Galadriel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 219 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Galadriel most popular?
The single biggest year for Galadriel was 2003, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Galadriel is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Galadriel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 218 people with the name Galadriel, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,419 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 Galadriel 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 Galadriel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Galadriel appears almost entirely female. Of the 213 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Galadriel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Galadriel is White at 74.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.9%) and Hispanic (10.1%). 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 Galadriel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Galadriel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.3% (162 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 Galadriel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Galadriel a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Galadriel 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 Galadriel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Galadriel 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 Galadriel 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 are called Galadriel?
You can see how many Americans are named Galadriel on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.