Humanverse

Gil vs Gilmore

American parents have registered 4,971 Gils since 1880, against 753 Gilmores. Gil is still ahead, with 20 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Gil against Gilmore, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Gil Gilmore

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 118 years in which either name was published, Gil for 95 years and Gilmore for 23 years. The lead changed hands 5 times.

Side by side

  Gil Gilmore
Total US births 4,971753
Most in one year 12432
Babies in 2025 20under 5
Estimated living today 3,900150
Median age today 4773
Peak year 19571914
Best rank 685th boys986th boys
Rank in 2025 4,857thunranked
First recorded 19141902
Girls / boys 0 / 4,9710 / 753

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 Gilmores alive today are over 73; half the Gils are over 47. That is 26 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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