Humanverse

Gae vs Gaelle

American parents have registered 652 Gaes since 1880, against 504 Gaelles. But in 2025 it was Gaelle that was commoner, 24 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Gae against Gaelle, 1880 to 2025 0 8 16 24 32 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Gae Gaelle

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 93 years in which either name was published, Gae for 51 years and Gaelle for 42 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Gae Gaelle
Total US births 652504
Most in one year 2824
Babies in 2025 under 524
Estimated living today 380500
Median age today 7317
Peak year 19462025
Best rank 1,678th girls5,238th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked5,238th
First recorded 19131981
Girls / boys 652 / 0504 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Gaes alive today are over 73; half the Gaelles are over 17. That is 56 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Gae and Gaelle.