Gaila

Girls' name

Form of Gail

Gaila has been given to 564 babies in the U.S. since 1922. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1954, with 31 recorded.

Babies named Gaila, 1982

1 in 702,000

Gaila over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gaila: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Gail

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Gaila means

Gaila is a form of Gail.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Gaila is used in English (Rare).

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈɡeɪ.lə/ for Gaila.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Gaila → Gail → Abigail. The family’s meaning is “my Father's joy”, recorded in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Gail.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 564 girls were recorded with the name Gaila between 1922 and 1982. Its highest annual count was 31 in 1954; its best national rank was #1,888 in 1954.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Gaila?

Gaila had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1982, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1982: 1 in 702,000; 5 of 3,507,638 births
Among girls only: 1 in 339,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1982: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 486,263 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Gaila 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 1982 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 486,263 children born in 1982 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gaila. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Gailas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gaila was born before 1955 — so the typical Gaila is around 70 today.

Median birth year: 1955; About 70 years old
Biggest decade: 1950s; 37.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 43.4%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 405; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1950s — 37.1% of all recorded uses (209).

Is Gaila 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1954 (31)
Years since peak: 71; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 25.5% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,888; 1954

Spellings of Gaila

Gaila is not the most common spelling — Kayla is, with 13.8% against Gaila's 0.02%.

Kayla13.8%346,570
Paula11.2%280,856
Gail8.0%201,746
Gina6.1%153,057
Carla6.0%150,390
Layla5.1%129,136
Camila4.9%123,854
Karla3.7%91,586

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 Gaila is used

Across 1910–2025, Gaila was most concentrated in Illinois — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 1,590,004 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Illinois1 in —

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. Gaila has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Gaila around the world

Where Gaila 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.

South Australia
1961–1961
#665
in 1961

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Gaila by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,888; 1954
Peak year: 1954; 31 that year
First recorded: 1922
Last recorded: 1982
All-time count: 564
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Gaila

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

Anila Meila Akila Maila Daila Avila Gaile Zaila Taila Amila Ameila Alaila Caila Sila Gila Neila Gaia Khaila Aquila Nabila Hila Gelila Zoila Emila

Sibling names for Gaila

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

For a sister

Marita Jacalyn Luanne Romona Louann Madonna Merry Nanci

For a brother

Stanton Stanford Lindsey Jerrold Leigh Sandy Dirk Jacky

Explore around Gaila

Top names of 1954, Gaila's peak year The 1950s in full Other names that peaked in 1954 Girls' names starting with G