Given name & surname
Gillian
“one who is youthful”
Gillian is used as a given name and a surname. One Latin interpretation is “one who is youthful.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Latin interpretation is “one who is youthful.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Latin.
How it developed
In English use, Gillian is used as a variant of Julian.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1922. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Gillian through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 16,127
- 68 boys · 16,059 girls
- Most popular year
- 1999
- 1,030 babies
- 2025
- 47
- #3,307 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −35%
- Cooling
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 47 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 3,307 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 34.3% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 1,022 in 1999. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (7). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 19,505 as a first name in 2020; 1,449 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.
Gillian’s family of names
In English usage, Gillian has a diminutive in Jill. Gillian has a related form in Julian. Gillian has a short form in Jill.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 20
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Gillian
- Gillian AndersonAmerican actress (born 1968)
- Gillian FlynnAmerican author and criticborn 1971
- Gillian JacobsAmerican film, theater and television actressborn 1982
- Gillian ChungHong Kong actress and singerborn 1981
- Gillian Armstrongfilm directorborn 1950
- Gillian WelchAmerican musicianborn 1967
- Gillian VigmanAmerican actressborn 1972
- Gillian GilbertEnglish musician, keyboardist, guitarist and singerborn 1961
- Gillian RubinsteinBritish writer of fiction and playsborn 1942
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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If you love Gillian, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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