Given name & surname
Gilead
“from the mountain of testimony”
Gilead is used as a given name and a surname. One Hebrew interpretation is “from the mountain of testimony.”
Original Hebrewגלעד
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Hebrew interpretation is “from the mountain of testimony.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Hebrew.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1992. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
In the Bible
In the Bible, the name Gilead appears in Judges 20:1, Genesis 31:47, 1 Kings 17:1 and 8 other passages.
- Judges 20:1
- Genesis 31:47
- 1 Kings 17:1
- Jeremiah 8:22
- Numbers 26:29
- Judges 7:3
- Hosea 6:8
- Judges 21:8
- 2 Samuel 2:4
- 1 Chronicles 5:1
- Judges 11:1
From biblical name research
Gilead through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 90
- 90 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2015
- 11 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +100%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 8 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 11 in 2015. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 121 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.
Gilead’s family of names
Gilead has a related form in Gilad. In Polish usage, Gilead has a conventional equivalent in the Italian form GALAAD.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 13
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
Appears in
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