Gladyce
Feminine
Gladys Aylward was a London parlourmaid who was turned down by the China Inland Mission for being unteachable, saved her wages, bought a one-way rail ticket across Siberia and went anyway. She ended up leading a hundred children over the mountains to safety ahead of an advancing army.
How old is the name Gladyce?
Gladyce first appears in US birth records in 1895 — 130 years ago. The typical Gladyce alive today was born around 1919, making them about 106 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Gladyce are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Gladyce most popular?
Gladyce peaked in 1909, reaching #791 nationally. See the whole 1909 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From an old Welsh name of unrecovered meaning to Gladyce
The story of Gladyce
She was in her late twenties, had almost no education and no organization behind her, and she made herself useful in a way no mission board would have designed: she took a job inspecting feet, enforcing the ban on binding, which got her into villages nobody else could enter. When the Japanese advanced she walked a hundred children across the mountains to the Yellow River over twelve days. The film made about her afterwards embarrassed her considerably — it gave her a romance she had not had and an actress who looked nothing like her, and she said so.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Welsh name is old and its meaning is not recoverable; the Latin connection usually offered was proposed by scholars working backwards. This spelling writes the final sound with ce rather than s, which is a nineteenth-century flourish — the same one that produced Alyce, Bernyce and Gladyce — and it changes nothing audible.
How the name formed
- an old Welsh name of unrecovered meaning
- the Welsh revival carries it into English use
- a nineteenth-century flourish writes the ending with ce
- an enormous American wave around 1900
- a London parlourmaid makes the name famous in China
Related forms: Gwladys · Gladys
Pronouncing Gladyce
GLAD-iss
Two syllables, stress at the front. The ce ending says exactly what an s would say and exists purely for the look of it.
Nicknames for Gladyce
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
- 1895
- Most girls named
- 191556 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #791reached in 1909
- Change vs 1942
- 0.0%6 in 1944, from 6
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.
Gladyce in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gwladys in Welsh — related form
- Gladys in English — spelling variant
Gladyces among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Gladyce are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Gladyce 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 short, unmistakable and read correctly by everybody at sight.
- It has a genuine Welsh history and an extraordinary namesake.
- The name is due for a revival and has not had one yet.
- Gladys is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected everywhere.
- It reads as a great-grandmother's name at present.
- The Latin meaning usually given is a scholarly guess.
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Gladyce
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Gladyces are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Gladyce are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Gladyce in 2025?
- Gladyce is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Gladyce with classmates?
- Gladyce 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 Gladyce? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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