Glade
Masculine · “A bright opening in a wood”
A glade is an opening in a wood, and the word is probably the same one as glad — a bright place, before glad meant a cheerful person.
How old is the name Glade?
Glade first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Glade alive today was born around 1944, making them about 81 years old. About 400 people named Glade are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Glade most popular?
Glade peaked in 1939, reaching #1359 nationally. See the whole 1939 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Glade
Glad meant bright before it meant pleased. The Old English word is used of shining surfaces and of clear weather, and the sense of a cheerful mood is a development from it — brightness applied to a face and then to a temperament, in the same way that gloom went from darkness to sadness in the other direction. If the connection to the woodland clearing holds, a glade is simply the bright part, which is a precise description of what a clearing actually is from inside a forest and a better piece of naming than most landscape words manage.
Meaningscholars disagree
A bright opening in a wood
The usual account connects the word to the adjective glad, whose older sense was shining or bright, on the grounds that a glade is where the light comes in. The connection is likely rather than proven, and the word's early history is thin.
Pronouncing Glade
glayd
One syllable. Said exactly like the common noun.
Nicknames for Glade
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
- 1913
- Most boys named
- 193924 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1359reached in 1939
- Change vs 2006
- −28.6%5 in 2020, from 7
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.
Glades among us
people named Glade 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
Glade 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
- It is one syllable and cannot be mangled.
- The image behind it is concrete and pleasant.
- It is a real English word rather than an invention.
- It is a common noun, which some people find odd for a person.
- It will be heard as Wade, Blade or Slade.
- The name has never been common and will need explaining.
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Glade
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Glades 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 Glade are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Glade in 2025?
- Glade is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Glade with classmates?
- Glade will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More G names
The most-given names starting with G, all years combined.
George#126 · Gary#1073 · Gregory#593 · Gerald#1204 · Gabriel#37 · Glenn#1443 · Gavin#303 · Gordon#1051
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Glade? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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