Galen
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "calm" or "tranquil".
Name Census estimates that about 11,904 living Americans carry the first name Galen. It is a predominantly male name (96.7% of registrations). The average person named Galen today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Galen births was 1949 (441 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Galen. 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 Galen with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Galen is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 560 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 28,793 Americans
Peak year
1949
441 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,753
Tracked since 1889
Census
Galen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,996 people with the first name Galen, which placed it at #2,194 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
#2,194
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,996 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Galen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Galen is White at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Black (6.6%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Galen 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 Galen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.1% · 9,966
- Black or African American6.6% · 787
- Two or more races3.5% · 415
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 349
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 295
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 184
Gender
Gender distribution for Galen
Galen leans heavily male at 96.7% of total registrations, but 560 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Galen as a male name
- Ranked #2,753 in 2024
- 47 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1949 (433 births)
Galen as a female name
- Ranked #15,127 in 2005
- 6 female births in 2005
- Peak: 1993 (25 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Galen leans strongly male. 11,446 people counted with this name were male (95.4%), compared with 551 female bearers (4.6%).
Popularity
Galen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Galen from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 3,013 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Galen 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 Galen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Galens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. Pennsylvania, California, Kansas recorded the most babies named Galen, while New Jersey, New Hampshire, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 261 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Galen
The name Galen has its origins in ancient Greek, deriving from the word "galene" which means "calm" or "tranquil". It was a common name in ancient Greece, particularly among philosophers and scholars.
The most famous bearer of this name was Galen of Pergamon, a prominent Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher who lived in the 2nd century AD. He made significant contributions to the understanding of anatomy, physiology, and the theory of disease, and his writings were highly influential in the development of Western medicine for centuries.
Another notable historical figure with the name Galen was Galen of Cyzicus, a Greek grammarian and rhetorician who lived in the 2nd century BC. He was known for his work on the Homeric poems and his commentary on the writings of Aristotle.
In the Middle Ages, the name Galen was occasionally given to scholars and physicians in honor of the ancient Greek physician. One such example is Galen of Bergamo, an Italian physician and philosopher who lived in the 15th century.
During the Renaissance period, the name experienced a resurgence in popularity, particularly among humanist scholars who admired the works of ancient Greek philosophers and scientists. Galen of Amsterdam, a 16th-century Dutch physician and philosopher, was a prominent figure of this time.
In more recent history, the name Galen has been borne by several notable individuals, including Galen Strawson, a British philosopher born in 1952, and Galen Rowell, an American wilderness photographer and climber who lived from 1940 to 2002.
Overall, the name Galen has a rich history rooted in ancient Greek culture, closely associated with the pursuit of knowledge, medicine, and philosophy. Its enduring use throughout the centuries reflects the lasting influence of the ancient Greek physician Galen of Pergamon and the respect held for intellectual pursuits in various eras.
People
Galen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Galen 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
Galen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Galen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,904 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Galen 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 28,793 US residents.
Is Galen a common name?
We classify Galen as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,036 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Galen most popular?
The single biggest year for Galen was 1949, when 441 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Galen is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Galen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,996 people with the name Galen, or 3.97 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,194 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 Galen 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 Galen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Galen leans strongly male. 11,446 people counted with this name were male (95.4%), compared with 551 female bearers (4.6%). 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 Galen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Galen is White at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Black (6.6%) and Two or More Races (3.5%). 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 Galen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Galen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.1% (9,966 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 Galen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Galen a male name?
Yes, 96.7% of people registered as Galen in the SSA data are male. 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 Galen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Galen 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 Galen 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 Americans are named Galen?
See how many people share the name Galen on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.