Gaye vs Gaylen
American parents have registered 5,746 Gayes since 1880, against 2,373 Gaylens. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Gaye Gaylen
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 88 years in which either name was published, Gaye for 54 years and Gaylen for 34 years. The lead changed hands 11 times.
Side by side
| Gaye | Gaylen | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 5,746 | 2,373 |
| Most in one year | 268 | 104 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 4,000 | 1,400 |
| Median age today | 69 | 68 |
| Peak year | 1960 | 1949 |
| Best rank | 610th girls | 707th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1909 | 1915 |
| Girls / boys | 5,746 / 0 | 348 / 2,025 |
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.
Where each one is strongest
- Gaye Oklahoma (2.3×), Texas (2.1×), Michigan (2.0×)
- Gaylen Iowa (23.7×), Utah (22.3×), Nebraska (13.0×)
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: Gaye and Gaylen.