girl's name
Gladys
GLAD-iss
- Origin Welsh
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 278,094
Ireland
#991
2008 births
Gladys is a girl's name from Welsh, usually taken as a form of Claudia — which would give it the meaning lame. Its own Welsh source is genuinely unknown, and the land or nation reading often given is unsupported.
- Gladys is a name of Welsh origin.
- Peaked in 1921, when 8,837 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 67,664 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Gladys over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,420 |
| 1890s | 13,659 |
| 1900s | 30,417 |
| 1910s | 66,058 |
| 1920s | 72,812 |
| 1930s | 34,978 |
| 1940s | 19,125 |
| 1950s | 12,222 |
| 1960s | 5,954 |
| 1970s | 2,776 |
| 1980s | 2,526 |
| 1990s | 2,923 |
| 2000s | 1,767 |
| 2010s | 745 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 359 |
What Gladys means
Gladys has no established meaning. It is usually treated as the Welsh form of Claudia, which would mean lame, but the Welsh name may be independent and its own sense is not recovered.
Where Gladys comes from
Gladys is the Welsh Gwladus, and its origin is unresolved. The standard proposal treats it as the Welsh adaptation of the Latin Claudia, from claudus, lame — which would make it a relative of Claude. An alternative connects it to gwlad, a country or nation, giving the land reading that most references carry, but the vowel does not work cleanly and Welsh scholarship does not support it. Gwladus appears in medieval Welsh genealogies, including as a daughter of Brychan, and the anglicized Gladys spread through Britain in the late nineteenth century.
Gladys in use
Gladys peaked in the United States in 1921, when 8,837 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 3033rd in France on 10 births, 3222nd in the United States on 49 and 5502nd in England and Wales, across 278,094 lifetime births in three of the seven markets we track. Its 1921 peak places it with Ethel, Agnes, Edna and Marjorie, three of which our data marks reviving while this one continues to fall.
How popular is Gladys?
In 2025, Gladys was given to 49 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Gladys 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 Gladys
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Gladys also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Gladys over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Gladys 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.
Sibling names for Gladys
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Gladys — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Gladys
What does the name Gladys mean?
Not established. If it is the Welsh form of Claudia it means lame; the land or nation reading is not well supported.
Is Gladys a Welsh name?
The form Gwladus is Welsh and appears in medieval genealogies, though the name may have come into Welsh from Latin.
Is Gladys related to Claude?
Possibly — both would descend from the Latin claudus, lame, if the standard derivation is right.
How popular is Gladys?
3222nd in the United States, down from a 1921 peak of 8,837 births.
Is Gladys a girl's or a boy's name?
Gladys is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Gladys?
Gladys has 2 syllables.
Is Gladys a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Gladys currently ranks #3,033 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.