girl's name
Gloria
GLOR-ee-uh
- Origin Latin
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 424,771
the United States
#654
2025 births
Gloria is a girl's name that is simply the Latin word for glory, taken unchanged. Our data marks it stable, and its strongest markets are France at 418th and Ireland at 422nd rather than the United States, where it peaked.
- Gloria is a name of Latin origin.
- Peaked in 1947, when 12,662 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 7,587 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1881.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Gloria 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 | 7 |
| 1890s | 71 |
| 1900s | 435 |
| 1910s | 2,818 |
| 1920s | 63,053 |
| 1930s | 68,931 |
| 1940s | 105,467 |
| 1950s | 87,034 |
| 1960s | 38,770 |
| 1970s | 14,319 |
| 1980s | 10,556 |
| 1990s | 9,844 |
| 2000s | 7,266 |
| 2010s | 5,610 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,837 |
What Gloria means
Gloria means glory, renown or praise. It is the ordinary Latin noun used unchanged as a name, so the meaning is exact rather than reconstructed.
Where Gloria comes from
Gloria is the Latin gloria, glory or fame, and its use as a given name is comparatively recent — before the nineteenth century it appears chiefly in liturgy rather than on people. The Gloria in excelsis Deo of the Mass and the Gloria Patri kept the word constantly audible in Christian worship for centuries, which is what made it available as a name. George Bernard Shaw used it for a character in You Never Can Tell in 1898, and the name spread rapidly through the English-speaking world in the early twentieth century.
Gloria in use
Gloria peaked in the United States in 1947, when 12,662 babies were registered, and our data marks it stable. It now ranks 418th in France on 125 births, 422nd in Ireland on 9, 654th in the United States on 437 and 750th in England and Wales, across 424,771 lifetime births. Its two strongest markets are France and Ireland rather than America, which holds the great majority of its history.
How popular is Gloria?
In 2025, Gloria was given to 437 babies in the United States, ranking #654 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Gloria 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 Gloria
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Gloria also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Gloria over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Gloria
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Gloria 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 Gloria
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Gloria — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Gloria
What does the name Gloria mean?
Glory — it is the ordinary Latin noun, used unchanged.
Is Gloria a religious name?
Not by origin, but the Gloria of the Mass kept the word audible for centuries, which is what made it available as a name.
When did Gloria become a name?
Largely in the early twentieth century. Shaw used it for a character in 1898 and it spread quickly after.
How popular is Gloria?
418th in France and 654th in the United States, and our data marks it stable.
Is Gloria a girl's or a boy's name?
Gloria is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Gloria?
Gloria has 3 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Gloria?
Gloria is usually shortened to Glo.
Is Gloria a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Gloria currently ranks #418 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.