Girls' name · peaked in 1901
Gladys name popularity since 1925
114,925 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Gladys. Half of them were born in 1936 or earlier, so the typical Gladys is about 90 years old in 2026. Gladys peaked in 1901 as the #11 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 114,925
- Named Gladys, 1925–2025
- Peak year
- 1901
- #11 for girls that year
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #3,224 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.6% girls
- 114,419 girls · 506 boys
- Most popular in
- Mississippi
- 2.73× its national share
Peak year is the year Gladys made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Gladys births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year on this chart was 1925. Measured as a share of all babies, Gladys peaked earlier, in 1901.
- Fastest rise: Between 1985 and 1990, Gladys became 1.6× more common, from 1 in 6,720 baby girls to 1 in 4,240.
- Steepest fall: Between 2005 and 2010, its share of baby girls fell by 47%, from 1 in 9,100 to 1 in 17,300.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Gladys's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Gladys.
Decade by decade
Babies named Gladys in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 31,401 | 149 | – |
| 1930s | 34,762 | 216 | #78 |
| 1940s | 19,063 | 62 | #141 |
| 1950s | 12,181 | 41 | #231 |
| 1960s | 5,948 | 6 | #378 |
| 1970s | 2,766 | 10 | #551 |
| 1980s | 2,509 | 17 | #692 |
| 1990s | 2,918 | 5 | #726 |
| 2000s | 1,767 | 0 | #1,145 |
| 2010s | 745 | 0 | #2,265 |
| 2020–25 | 359 | 0 | #3,224 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
51.0% of babies named Gladys from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:
Where Gladys is most popular
The index compares Gladys's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Gladys.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 2.73× | 3,708 |
| South Carolina | 2.48× | 3,896 |
| Alabama | 2.17× | 4,301 |
| North Dakota | 2.14× | 758 |
| West Virginia | 2.13× | 2,103 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Gladys and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Gladys (this page) | 114,419 | 1901 |
| Gladis | 2,386 | 1909 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Gladys's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Gladys.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Gladys (1901).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data