Gillian
Feminine · “youthful”
Gillian is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 16,059 girls against 68 boys since 1880.
Gillian is the older English feminine of Julian, and for centuries it was said with a soft g — which is why its clipping is Jill and not Gill as the spelling suggests.
How old is the name Gillian?
Gillian first appears in US birth records in 1922 — 103 years ago. The typical Gillian alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 15,500 people named Gillian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gillian most popular?
Gillian peaked in 1999, reaching #303 nationally. Today it ranks #3296, 2,993 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Julius to Gillian
The story of Gillian
Juliana was the feminine of Julianus, carried by a fourth-century martyr, and English narrowed it to Gillian, said with a soft g. It was so common in medieval England that Gill and Jill became generic words for a girl, paired with Jack. The name faded and returned in twentieth-century Britain, where it was much commoner than in America; American use peaked in the 1990s.
Meaningscholars disagree
youthful, downy-bearded
Through Juliana and the Roman family name Julius. That name's own origin is disputed: ancient sources connected it to the Greek ioulos, 'downy-bearded', and so to youth, while others trace it to the god Jupiter. Neither is settled, and the family itself claimed descent from Aeneas.
How the name formed
- Julius
- Juliana
- Gillian
Related forms: Jillian · Julienne · Giuliana
Pronouncing Gillian
JIL-ee-un
Three syllables, stress on the first, with a soft g. Some speakers use a hard g, which is a minority pronunciation but does occur.
Nicknames for Gillian
Moderate
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
- 1922
- Most girls named
- 2000976 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #303reached in 1999
- Change vs 2023
- −7.8%47 in 2025, from 51
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.
Gillian in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jillian in English — spelling variant
- Julienne in French — related form
- Giuliana in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Gillians among us
people named Gillian are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 34,197 born in 2025 was named Gillian
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 Arleen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gillian's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Arleen climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Arleen's path sketches the road Gillian is walking now.
Gillian 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 Gillian is headed
Gillian 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.
Gillian beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gillian in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Roman family name and an early martyr stand behind it.
- Jill is available as a short form with an independent record.
- The Jack-and-Jill pairing is a genuine and old piece of English.
- The spelling suggests a hard g, which most bearers do not use.
- Jillian is the commoner American spelling.
- It is closely dated to the 1990s in American records.
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What they receive
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Gillian
Feminine · #3296 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gillians are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 15,500 people named Gillian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gillian in 2025?
- Gillian ranks #3296 among US girl names in 2025, with 47 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gillian?
- About 1 in every 34,197 US girls born in 2025 was named Gillian — 47 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gillian with classmates?
- Gillian will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gillian
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Neva#3296 · Aleyda#3296 · Kaylor#3296 · Nalia#3296 · Anyeli#3296 · Izabel#3296 · Esmee#3296 · Rhoda#3296
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gillian? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gillian and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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