Given name & surname
Gaylord
“one who is high-spirited”
Gaylord is used as a given name and a surname. One French interpretation is “one who is high-spirited.” Its derivation is not certain.
Meaning & origin
What it means
One French interpretation is “one who is high-spirited.” Its derivation is not certain.
Where it comes from
A possible origin is French, although the derivation remains uncertain.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1882. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Gaylord through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 6,091
- 6,086 boys · 5 girls
- Most popular year
- 1931
- 168 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 boys is 5 in 1998. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 168 in 1931. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,236 as a first name in 2020; 4,772 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Gaylord’s family of names
In English usage, Gaylord has a diminutive in Gay. In English usage, Gaylord shares a linguistic root with the Spanish form GALLARDO. Gaylord has a related form in Gayelord.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 9
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Gaydiminutive · English
- Gaylardvariant
- Gaylorvariant
- Gaylyrvariant
- Gaylirvariant
- Gaylarvariant
- Gaylurvariant
- Gaylervariant
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Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Gaylord
- Gailard SartainAmerican actor (1943–2025)
- Gaylord NelsonAmerican politician (1916–2005)
- Gaylord PerryAmerican Hall of Fame baseball player (1938–2022)
- Gaylord LloydAmerican film actor1888–1943
- Gaylord GriswoldAmerican politician (1767-1809)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Gaylord, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Hillard
Hillard is a masculine given name from French.
>99% boys
Garland
“decorated with a wreath of flowers” · “one who is crowned”
86% boys · 14% girls
Guido
“one who acts as a guide”
>99% boys
Raoul
“wolf counsel” · “wolt counsel”
>99% boys
Gilbert
“servant of St BRIDGET” · “of the bright promise”
>99% boys
Garnett
“resembling the dark-red gem” · “one who wields a spear”
>99% boys
Lowell
“resembling a young wolf”
99% boys · 1% girls
Laurent
“a graceful woman”
90% boys · 10% girls