Gayl vs Gaynell
American parents have registered 4,269 Gaynells since 1880, against 622 Gayls. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Gayl Gaynell
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
Gaynell has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1886 to 1991. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1975, when Gayl had 6 and Gaynell had 12.
Side by side
| Gayl | Gaynell | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 622 | 4,269 |
| Most in one year | 43 | 117 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | under 5 |
| Estimated living today | 420 | 2,000 |
| Median age today | 71 | 72 |
| Peak year | 1952 | 1952 |
| Best rank | 1,469th girls | 849th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | unranked |
| First recorded | 1917 | 1886 |
| Girls / boys | 607 / 15 | 4,251 / 18 |
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.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Gayl and Gaynell.