girl's name
Gayle
GAYL
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 1
- Letters 5
- Births on record 67,716
Ireland
#619
1999 births
Gayle carries 67,694 lifetime births and now charts in none of our six markets — one of the largest names on this site to have fallen entirely out of current use. Scotland held on to it a generation longer.
- Gayle is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1951, when 2,929 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- First appears in US birth records in 1891.
- 1 syllable, with the stress on syllable 1.
Gayle over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1890s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2024, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1890s | 77 |
| 1900s | 148 |
| 1910s | 1,052 |
| 1920s | 1,741 |
| 1930s | 6,374 |
| 1940s | 17,483 |
| 1950s | 24,517 |
| 1960s | 10,404 |
| 1970s | 2,826 |
| 1980s | 1,100 |
| 1990s | 369 |
| 2000s | 130 |
| 2010s | 57 |
| 2020s (to 2024) | 30 |
What Gayle means
Gayle means my father is joy, carried from Abigail. The Hebrew joins a word for a father to one meaning joy or rejoicing, so the sense is a father's delight.
Where Gayle comes from
Gayle respells Gail, which shortens Abigail — the Hebrew Avigayil, my father is joy. Abigail in the books of Samuel talks David out of a massacre with a speech that is one of the longest given to a woman in the Hebrew Bible, and later becomes his wife. The name's English use as a byword for a lady's maid comes from a seventeenth-century play, which is a strange fate for a biblical negotiator.
Gayle in use
Gayle peaked in the United States in 1951, when 2,929 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable rather than falling. It charts in none of the six markets we track in the most recent year, despite 67,694 lifetime births. Scotland ran its own peak much later, in 1975, on 118 births — the name held on there a generation after America moved past it.
How popular is Gayle?
In 2024, Gayle was given to 6 babies in the United States. It was given to fewer than five babies in the most recent year of published US data.
Where Gayle is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Gayle
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Gayle also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Gayle over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Gayle in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Dutch
- Abigail
Sibling names for Gayle
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Gayle — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Gayle
What does the name Gayle mean?
My father is joy — from Abigail, the Hebrew Avigayil.
Is Gayle short for Abigail?
Yes, by way of Gail, though it has long been used on its own.
Who was Abigail in the Bible?
She talks David out of a massacre in Samuel, in one of the longest speeches given to a woman there.
Is Gayle still used?
It charts in none of our six markets in the current year, despite 67,694 lifetime births.
How popular is the name Gayle?
In 2024, Gayle was given to 6 babies in the United States. It was given to fewer than five babies in the most recent year of published US data.
Is Gayle a girl's or a boy's name?
Gayle is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Gayle?
Gayle has 1 syllable.
When was Gayle most popular?
Gayle peaked in 1951, when 2,929 babies were given the name. Its usage has held steady over the past decade.