Gae vs Gael
American parents have registered 49,752 Gaels since 1880, against 652 Gaes. Gael is still ahead, with 3,866 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Gae Gael
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 90 years in which either name was published, Gael for 51 years and Gae for 39 years. The lead changed hands 19 times.
- 1913–1936 Gae ahead
- 1937–1939 Gael ahead
- 1942–1966 Gae ahead, apart from 3 short spells
- 1969–2025 Gael ahead
13 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Gae | Gael | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 652 | 49,752 |
| Most in one year | 28 | 3,879 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 3,866 |
| Estimated living today | 380 | 49,000 |
| Median age today | 73 | 7 |
| Peak year | 1946 | 2024 |
| Best rank | 1,678th girls | 89th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 86th |
| First recorded | 1913 | 1919 |
| Girls / boys | 652 / 0 | 673 / 49,079 |
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 Gaels are over 7. That is 66 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 Gael.