Galilea
Feminine · “the district”
Galilea is the Spanish and Italian name for Galilee, the green northern region of ancient Israel, and it carries that whole landscape in four syllables. The word behind it is older still — Hebrew *galil*, a district or circle of land. Said aloud in Spanish it opens up in the middle, gah-lee-LEH-ah, with the same flowing ending that Amelia and Cecilia share.
How old is the name Galilea?
Galilea first appears in US birth records in 1993 — 32 years ago. The typical Galilea is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 9,200 people named Galilea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Galilea most popular?
Galilea peaked in 2016, reaching #525 nationally. Today it ranks #647, 122 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Where it comes from
From Galil to Galilea
The story of Galilea
The name begins as geography, not as a personal name: *ha-Galil*, the district, the hilly northern country around the Sea of Galilee. Greek translators rendered it Galilaia, Latin took it as Galilaea, and from Latin it settled into Spanish and Italian as Galilea, a word every reader of the Gospels in those languages knows. Its life as a girl's given name is far more recent, belonging largely to Latin America and to Spanish-speaking families in the United States, where it was given a strong push by the Mexican television presenter Galilea Montijo. That means the name has a very long documented past and a short history as something you call a daughter.
Meaning
the district, the region — from Hebrew *galil*, 'circle, district'
Galilea is the Spanish and Italian form of the place name Galilee; the Hebrew root describes a circle or circuit of territory, hence 'the district'.
How the name formed
- Galil
- Galilaia
- Galilaea
- Galilea
Related forms: Galilea · Galilee · Galileia · Galilée · Galilaea · Galil
Pronouncing Galilea
gah-lee-LEH-ah
That is the Spanish reading, with the stress on the third syllable. English speakers commonly say gal-ih-LAY-ah, and some families use GAL-ih-lee-ah. All three are heard; deciding early which one you answer to saves repetition later.
Nicknames for Galilea
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1993
- Most girls named
- 2016594 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #525reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- −3.5%446 in 2025, from 462
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Galilea in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Galilea in Italian — same name
- Galilee in English — related form
- Galileia in Portuguese — related form
- Galilée in French — related form
- Galilaea in Latin — same name
- Galil in Hebrew — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Galileas among us
people named Galilea are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 3,604 born in 2025 was named Galilea
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Christal test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Galilea's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Christal climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Christal's path sketches the road Galilea is walking now.
Galilea sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Galilea is headed
Galilea should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Galilea beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Galilea in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Recognizable in writing to anyone who knows the Gospels or a map of Israel, so the spelling has a familiar anchor even where the name is new.
- Works in Spanish and English without changing a letter, which matters in bilingual families.
- Comes with ready-made short forms — Gali, Lea, Lía — none of them invented for the occasion.
- A documented history stretching back to Hebrew and Greek, unusual for a name whose use as a first name is this recent.
- Pronunciation genuinely splits between Spanish and English speakers, mainly over where the stress falls. Expect to correct it politely, and expect some people to land on Galileo's name first.
- The association is with a region of the Bible, which some families welcome and others would rather not carry. Worth deciding how you feel about that before it is on a birth certificate.
- Outside communities where Spanish is spoken daily, it is still unfamiliar enough that it will be spelled back to you as Galilee or Galilia now and then — a small, lifelong tax on a name that is otherwise easy to say once heard.
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What they receive
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Galilea
Feminine · #647 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Galileas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,200 people named Galilea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Galilea in 2025?
- Galilea ranks #647 among US girl names in 2025, with 446 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Galilea?
- About 1 in every 3,604 US girls born in 2025 was named Galilea — 446 in all.
- Will my child share the name Galilea with classmates?
- Galilea will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Galilea
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Thalia#647 · Katie#646 · Zariyah#645 · Shelby#649 · Andie#650 · Aya#644 · Irene#651 · Alara#652
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Galilea? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Galilea and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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