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Gaia

#1,392 in 2025Girls' name

Possibly Gaea, the Earth personified as a goddess

Gaia has been given to 2,434 babies in the U.S. since 1980. In 2025 it ranked #1,392 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 219 recorded.

Babies named Gaia, 2025

1 in 21,100

Gaia over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gaia: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly Gaea, the Earth personified as a goddess

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Gaia means

Gaia may mean “Gaea, the Earth personified as a goddess”, associated with Gaîă.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Γαῖᾰ (Gaîă, “Gaea, the Earth personified as a goddess”), from γαῖᾰ (gaîă, “the Earth”), probably related to γῆ (gê, “earth, land; country”). Sense 1 was coined by the British scientist, environmentalist, and futurist James Lovelock (1919–2022) in his book Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth (1979), at the suggestion of the British novelist, playwright, and poet William Golding (1911–1993): see the quotation.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Gaia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Gaia is used in English and Italian.

Gaia comes through Ancient Greek Γαῖᾰ.

Gaia is a modern formation.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Gaia is pronounced /ˈɡaɪə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,434 girls were recorded with the name Gaia between 1980 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 219 in 2023; its best national rank was #1,122 in 2023.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,401 in 2020 to #1,392 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,107 in 2015 to #1,392 in 2025.

How common is Gaia?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 21,100
157 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 10,200
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,392
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
14,637 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Gaia sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5002%

Put another way: gather 14,637 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gaia. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Gaias were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gaia was born before 2019 — so the typical Gaia is around 6 today.

Median birth year
2019
About 6 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
46.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
93.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,434
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 46.5% of all recorded uses (1,133).

Is Gaia rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−248
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+9
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+715
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.71×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
71.7%
Peak was 2023 (219)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,122
2023

Spellings of Gaia

Gaia is not the most common spelling — Maria is, with 12.9% against Gaia's 0.06%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Gaia is used

Across 2016–2025, Gaia was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 4,545 girls, against 1 in 9,975 across all states with data. It was least common in Michigan (1 in 100,000).

122 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 4,545
  2. 2Florida1 in 5,556
  3. 3California1 in 6,667
  4. 4Massachusetts1 in 7,143
  5. 5New Jersey1 in 7,143
  6. 6Virginia1 in 8,333
  7. 7Colorado1 in 12,500
  8. 8Texas1 in 12,500

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Gaia around the world

Where Gaia ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #520
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2012–2025
    #474
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2019–2019
    #424
    in 2019
  • Ireland
    2007–2024
    #412
    in 2024
  • France
    1981–2025
    #397
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1995–2024
    #2,104
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1990–1994
    #716
    in 1994

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Gaia

People whose public names include Gaia, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Gaia in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Gaia. Linked forms have their own page here.

GiaCaiaJaiaGajaJaïa

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Gaia by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,392
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 9
Best rank ever
#1,122
2023
Peak year
2023
219 that year
First recorded
1980
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,434
Count in 2025
157

Names similar to Gaia

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

NaiaCaiaLaiaJaiaZaiaTaiaAmaiaAnaiaGaileRaiaMaiaKaiaGailaAdaiaSaiaAlaiaElaiaDaiaGailMalaiaMakaiaAvaiaManaiaGaige

Names with a curve like Gaia

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Gaia, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

BennettLeylaniAlyaHollynYusraLavenderLailaniJoviAylahAlaiyahMemphisMaelynn

Sibling names for Gaia

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Gaia

Top names of 2023, Gaia's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2023Girls' names starting with GAncient Names Outside the Top 1000Earthy Girl NamesGoddess NamesGreek Goddess NamesUncommon Italian Girl Names