Gay vs Gaylene
American parents have registered 19,367 Gays since 1880, against 2,570 Gaylenes. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Gay Gaylene
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 102 years in which either name was published, Gay for 94 years and Gaylene for 8 years. The lead changed hands once.
Side by side
| Gay | Gaylene | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 19,367 | 2,570 |
| Most in one year | 692 | 118 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 12,000 | 1,900 |
| Median age today | 70 | 67 |
| Peak year | 1959 | 1956 |
| Best rank | 362nd girls | 929th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1883 | 1931 |
| Girls / boys | 17,985 / 1,382 | 2,570 / 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 Gays alive today are over 70; half the Gaylenes are over 67. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Gay Utah (2.3×), West Virginia (2.1×), Louisiana (2.1×)
- Gaylene Utah (22.8×), Nebraska (11.8×), Idaho (6.8×)
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: Gay and Gaylene.