Gladys
Masculine
Gladys is given to girls far more often — 266,718 girls against 1,023 boys since 1880. See Gladys as a girl name
Gladys is Welsh, and the Latin explanation attached to it was added later by people who assumed a name that old must come from Rome. Gwladys is recorded in Welsh sources long before anybody connected it to Claudia, and the connection has never been demonstrated.
How old is the name Gladys?
Gladys first appears in US birth records in 1895 — 130 years ago. The typical Gladys alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 100 people named Gladys are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gladys most popular?
Gladys peaked in 1905, reaching #574 nationally. See the whole 1905 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From an old Welsh name of unrecovered meaning to Gladys
The story of Gladys
Gladys Bentley performed in Harlem in the 1920s in a white tuxedo and top hat, sang blues that were too obscene to record as written, played piano loudly enough to be heard over the room, and married a woman in a civil ceremony in New Jersey. She was one of the most successful performers of the Harlem Renaissance and among the most openly lesbian public figures in America. In the 1950s, with the climate changed and the work gone, she published an article saying she had been cured and appeared in dresses. She died at fifty-two.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Welsh name is old and its meaning is not recoverable; a link to a Welsh word for a ruler has been proposed and so has the Latin Claudia, which would mean lame. The Latin reading is the one that appears in name books, and it is a guess made by scholars who worked from Latin outwards. The name reached the rest of Britain in the nineteenth century with the Welsh literary revival and became enormous in America almost immediately.
How the name formed
- an old Welsh name of unrecovered meaning
- scholars connect it to a Latin name much later
- the Welsh revival carries it into English use
- an enormous American wave around 1900
- almost entirely out of use within two generations
Related forms: Gwladys · Gladis · Gladys
Pronouncing Gladys
GLAD-iss
Two syllables, stress at the front. Welsh gives the first syllable a fuller vowel and pronounces the w, which English drops entirely.
Nicknames for Gladys
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 boys named
- 192738 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #574reached in 1905
- Change vs 1987
- −16.7%5 in 1991, 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.
Gladys in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gwladys in Welsh — same name
- Gladis in Spanish — spelling variant
- Gladys in French — same name
Gladyss among us
people named Gladys 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
Gladys 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 rather than an invented one.
- It is one of the names of its generation most obviously due for a revival.
- It reads as a great-grandmother's name and the revival has not arrived yet.
- The Latin meaning it is usually given is a guess and not a good one.
- It was enormous once, which means anyone over eighty knew several.
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Gladys
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Gladyss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100 people named Gladys are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gladys in 2025?
- Gladys is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Gladys with classmates?
- Gladys 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 Gladys? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gladys and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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