Gayl
Feminine · “A spelling of Gail”
Gayl is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 607 girls against 15 boys since 1880.
Gayl is Gail with a y, the short form of Abigail that became a name of its own in the mid-twentieth century. Two men called Gail are among its most memorable bearers: a pilot who dropped candy over Berlin and an inventor who made milk safe to keep.
How old is the name Gayl?
Gayl first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Gayl alive today was born around 1952, making them about 73 years old. About 400 people named Gayl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gayl most popular?
Gayl peaked in 1952, reaching #1469 nationally. See the whole 1952 chart.
Where it comes from
From Abigail to Gayl
The story of Gayl
In 1851, returning from London by ship, Gail Borden watched children die after drinking milk from sick cows kept on board, and he spent years working out how to condense milk in a vacuum so it would keep; his Eagle Brand condensed milk fed Union soldiers in the Civil War. During the Berlin Airlift of 1948 and 1949, the American pilot Gail Halvorsen began dropping chocolate and gum to children on tiny handkerchief parachutes, and 'the Candy Bomber' became a symbol of the airlift. Gayl, with its y, was a mid-century spelling given almost entirely to girls.
Meaning
A spelling of Gail, short for Abigail
Gail began as a short form of Abigail, Hebrew 'my father is joy'. Gayl is a respelling; the name was also used for men.
How the name formed
- Abigail
- Gail
- Gayl
Related forms: Gail · Gayle
Pronouncing Gayl
GAYL
One syllable.
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
- 1917
- Most girls named
- 195243 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1469reached in 1952
- Change vs 1973
- −25.0%6 in 1975, from 8
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.
Gayl in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gail in English — spelling variant
- Gayle in English — spelling variant
Gayls among us
people named Gayl are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Gayl sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Short and simple.
- Sounds like Gail, a name everyone knows.
- Distinct on paper.
- Almost everyone will write Gail or Gayle.
- It reads as a mid-century name.
- The spelling is recorded for a handful of boys, but it is overwhelmingly a girl's name.
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Gayl
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Gayls are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Gayl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gayl in 2025?
- Gayl is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Gayl with classmates?
- Gayl will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More G names
The most-given names starting with G, all years combined.
Grace#38 · Gloria#654 · Gladys#3211 · Geraldine#2438 · Gail#8362 · Gertrude#6546 · Georgia#99 · Gina#2076
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gayl? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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