Given name & surname
Gayl
“a foreigner”·“one who is cheerful”
Gayl is a variant of Gale. Interpretations include “a foreigner” and “one who is cheerful”. These belong to different or overlapping naming contexts.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Gayl is a variant of Gale. Interpretations include “a foreigner” and “one who is cheerful”. These belong to different or overlapping naming contexts.
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1917. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Gayl through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 622
- 15 boys · 607 girls
- Most popular year
- 1952
- 43 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 6 in 1975. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 43 in 1952. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 637 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Gayl’s family of names
Gayl has a related form in Gale. In German usage, Gayl as a surname has a related form in GEHL. In German usage, Gayl as a surname has a related form in KEHL.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Gayl
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Gayl, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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