Gelila
A feminine name of Ethiopian origin meaning "born during the harvest season".
Name Census estimates that about 349 living Americans carry the first name Gelila. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gelila today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gelila births was 2020 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gelila. 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 Gelila with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
349
~ 1 in 982,104 Americans
Peak year
2020
30 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,083
Tracked since 1997
Census
Gelila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 517 people with the first name Gelila, which placed it at #20,108 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
#20,108
National first-name rank
People counted
517
517 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
97.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gelila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gelila is Black at 97.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.4%) and White (0.8%). 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 Gelila 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 Gelila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American97.1% · 502
- Two or more races1.4% · 7
- White0.8% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 1
Popularity
Gelila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gelila from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 179 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Gelila remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gelila 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 Gelila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gelilas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Virginia, Texas, Maryland recorded the most babies named Gelila, while Maryland, Texas, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gelila
The name Gelila has its origins in the Amharic language of Ethiopia. Amharic is a Semitic language that traces its roots back to the ancient Ge'ez language spoken in the region now known as Eritrea and Ethiopia. The name Gelila is believed to be derived from the Amharic word "gelil," which means "beautiful" or "attractive."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gelila can be found in the Kebra Nagast, a 14th-century literary work that chronicles the story of the Queen of Sheba and her son Menelik I, who is said to be the founder of the Solomonic dynasty in Ethiopia. In this text, Gelila is mentioned as the name of one of the handmaidens who accompanied the Queen of Sheba on her legendary journey to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem.
Throughout history, the name Gelila has been borne by several notable individuals, including Gelila Assefa Wako (born 1957), an Ethiopian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in the Ethiopian government. Another prominent figure with this name is Gelila Bekele (born 1983), an Ethiopian long-distance runner who won the gold medal in the 5000 meters event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In the realm of literature, Gelila Mesfin (1937-2006) was an acclaimed Ethiopian novelist and playwright who is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern Amharic literature. Her works, including the novel "Admas Endendenaw" (The Heavens Have Become Nearer), explored themes of social injustice and the struggles of women in Ethiopian society.
Moving beyond Ethiopia, the name Gelila has also been adopted by individuals in other parts of the world. For instance, Gelila Pasha (1923-2005) was a Palestinian diplomat and politician who served as the Ambassador of Palestine to several countries, including the United States and the United Nations.
Another notable figure with the name Gelila is Gelila Bekele Esheto (born 1974), a Swedish-Ethiopian model and activist. Born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden, she has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and has used her platform to raise awareness about issues affecting women and marginalized communities.
These examples demonstrate the rich cultural heritage and diverse backgrounds associated with the name Gelila, which has transcended its origins in the Amharic language to become a name celebrated across different regions and communities.
People
Gelila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gelila 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
Gelila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gelila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 349 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gelila 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 982,104 US residents.
Is Gelila a common name?
We classify Gelila as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 352 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gelila most popular?
The single biggest year for Gelila was 2020, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gelila is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gelila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 517 people with the name Gelila, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,108 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 Gelila 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 Gelila?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gelila appears almost entirely female. Of the 520 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Gelila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gelila is Black at 97.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.4%) and White (0.8%). 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 Gelila most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Gelila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.1% (502 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 Gelila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gelila a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gelila 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 Gelila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gelila 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 Gelila 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 Gelila?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.