Galen vs Galilea
American parents have registered 17,060 Galens since 1880, against 9,309 Galileas. But in 2025 it was Galilea that was commoner, 446 babies to 23.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Galen Galilea
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 128 years in which either name was published, Galen for 101 years and Galilea for 27 years. The lead changed hands once.
Side by side
| Galen | Galilea | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 17,060 | 9,309 |
| Most in one year | 441 | 594 |
| Babies in 2025 | 23 | 446 |
| Estimated living today | 11,000 | 9,200 |
| Median age today | 52 | 10 |
| Peak year | 1949 | 2016 |
| Best rank | 329th boys | 525th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | 4,396th | 647th |
| First recorded | 1889 | 1993 |
| Girls / boys | 560 / 16,500 | 9,309 / 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 Galens alive today are over 52; half the Galileas are over 10. That is 42 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Galen Kansas (9.1×), Maine (7.7×), Iowa (4.7×)
- Galilea Nevada (4.1×), Texas (4.1×), California (3.5×)
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: Galen and Galilea.