Gaylen
A name perhaps derived from Gaelic elements meaning "bright" and "brilliant".
Name Census estimates that about 1,481 living Americans carry the first name Gaylen. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Gaylen today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gaylen births was 1949 (104 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gaylen. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Gaylen is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gaylens were born before 1969.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 231,434 Americans
Peak year
1949
104 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
2005 SSA rank
#12,030
Tracked since 1915
Census
Gaylen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,626 people with the first name Gaylen, which placed it at #8,799 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
#8,799
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,626 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gaylen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gaylen is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.6%). 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 Gaylen 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 Gaylen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.5% · 1,374
- Black or African American7.4% · 121
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 42
- Two or more races2.0% · 32
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 27
Gender
Gender distribution for Gaylen
Gaylen leans heavily male at 85.3% of total registrations, but 348 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Gaylen as a male name
- Ranked #12,030 in 2005
- 5 male births in 2005
- Peak: 1949 (94 births)
Gaylen as a female name
- Ranked #14,931 in 1998
- 5 female births in 1998
- Peak: 1948 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Gaylen on both sides of the split. Of the 1,628 people counted with this name, 1,280 were male (78.6%) and 348 were female (21.4%).
Popularity
Gaylen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gaylen from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 688 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
Gaylen 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 Gaylen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gaylens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. Iowa, Utah, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Gaylen, while Idaho, Kansas, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gaylen
The name Gaylen has its origins in the Gaelic language, which was spoken in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. It is believed to have emerged during the medieval period, around the 12th or 13th century. The name is derived from the Gaelic word "geal," which means "bright" or "fair," and the suffix "-an," which is a diminutive form. Together, the name Gaylen can be interpreted as "little bright one" or "little fair one."
While the name Gaylen does not appear to have been mentioned in any major ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been documented in historical records from the British Isles. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history, where a certain Gaylen mac Éogain is mentioned as a participant in a battle in the year 1260.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Gaylen. One of the earliest was Gaylen de Barry (c. 1280-1345), an Anglo-Norman landowner and knight who fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence. Another early bearer of the name was Gaylen O'Donnell (c. 1420-1492), an Irish chieftain and lord of Tyrconnell (now County Donegal).
In more recent times, Gaylen Ross (1910-1992) was an American baseball player who spent several seasons in the major leagues, primarily with the Chicago White Sox. Gaylen Young (1928-1998) was an American actor and television director, best known for his work on the popular series "Bonanza."
Another notable Gaylen was Gaylen Dill (1923-2017), an American businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the successful pizza chain Pizza Inn. Gaylen Bunker (1935-2005) was an American football player who played defensive back for the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s and was part of their championship teams.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Gaylen, which has its roots in the Gaelic language and culture of the British Isles.
People
Gaylen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gaylen 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
Gaylen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gaylen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,481 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gaylen 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 231,434 US residents.
Is Gaylen a common name?
We classify Gaylen as "Rare". It ranks above 92.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,373 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gaylen most popular?
The single biggest year for Gaylen was 1949, when 104 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gaylen is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gaylen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,626 people with the name Gaylen, or 0.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,799 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 Gaylen 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 Gaylen?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Gaylen on both sides of the split. Of the 1,628 people counted with this name, 1,280 were male (78.6%) and 348 were female (21.4%). 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 Gaylen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gaylen is White at 84.5%. The next largest groups are Black (7.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.6%). 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 Gaylen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gaylen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.5% (1,374 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 Gaylen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gaylen a male name?
Yes, 85.3% of people registered as Gaylen 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 Gaylen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gaylen 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 Gaylen 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 Gaylen as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.