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Gala

#2,495 in 2025Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Gala has been given to 2,186 babies in the U.S. since 1919. In 2025 it ranked #2,495 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1965, with 99 recorded.

Babies named Gala, 2025

1 in 46,700

Gala over time, 1880–2025

Girls
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gala: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Gala means

Gala has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Gala

A separate documented entry treats Gala as a short form of Galina. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

A separate documented entry treats Gala as a feminine form of Gallus. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,186 girls were recorded with the name Gala between 1919 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 99 in 1965; its best national rank was #1,056 in 1965.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,417 in 2020 to #2,495 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #3,402 in 2015 to #2,495 in 2025.

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.

How common is Gala?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 46,700
71 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 22,600
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,495
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
32,366 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Gala 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 5001%

Put another way: gather 32,366 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gala. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Galas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gala was born before 1983 — so the typical Gala is around 42 today.

Median birth year
1983
About 42 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
21.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
43.3%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,959
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 21.0% of all recorded uses (460).

Is Gala 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
−222
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+922
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+907
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.51×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
71.7%
Peak was 1965 (99)
Years since peak
60
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
24.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,056
1965

Spellings of Gala

Gala is not the most common spelling — Sara is, with 7.7% against Gala's 0.04%.

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 Gala is used

Across 1910–2025, Gala was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 33,333 girls, against 1 in 114,616 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 33,333
  2. 2California1 in 100,000
  3. 3Florida1 in 100,000
  4. 4Oklahoma1 in 100,000
  5. 5Alabama1 in —
  6. 6Arkansas1 in —
  7. 7Arizona1 in —
  8. 8Georgia1 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. Gala has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Gala around the world

Where Gala 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
    2000–2025
    #3,035
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2023–2023
    #749
    in 2023
  • France
    1984–2025
    #2,390
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2023–2023
    #2,973
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1958–2006
    #782
    in 2006

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

Notable people named Gala

People whose public names include Gala, 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.

Gala in other languages

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

GalinaGallaGal·la

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

Gala by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,495
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 922
Best rank ever
#1,056
1965
Peak year
1965
99 that year
First recorded
1919
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,186
Count in 2025
71

Names similar to Gala

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

JalaHalaLalaTalaGaliaNalaMalaKalaGaliAyalaCalaGalLealaKealaAlaMahalaGalaxyGalinaKamalaSalaNealaShalaZalaGalen

Names with a curve like Gala

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

MelodiEdieLuciTeddiCamelliaGloryCharletteSundayPandoraColetteAlitaAdelaida

Sibling names for Gala

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 Gala

Top names of 1965, Gala's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1965Girls' names starting with G