Gail vs Gayl
American parents have registered 210,698 Gails since 1880, against 622 Gayls. Gail is still ahead, with 12 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Gail Gayl
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
Gail has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1881 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1927, when Gail had 308 and Gayl had 5.
Side by side
| Gail | Gayl | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 210,698 | 622 |
| Most in one year | 10,066 | 43 |
| Babies in 2025 | 12 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 146,000 | 420 |
| Median age today | 71 | 71 |
| Peak year | 1951 | 1952 |
| Best rank | 36th girls | 1,469th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 8,362nd | unranked |
| First recorded | 1881 | 1917 |
| Girls / boys | 201,746 / 8,952 | 607 / 15 |
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.
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Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Gail and Gayl.