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Gardner

#5,093 in 2025Boys' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Gardner has been given to 3,026 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #5,093 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1915, with 65 recorded.

Babies named Gardner, 2025

1 in 174,000

Gardner over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gardner: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Gardner means

Gardner is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Gardner is used in English.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Gardner is pronounced /ˈɡɑɹd.nɚ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,016 boys were recorded with the name Gardner between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 65 in 1915; its best national rank was #662 in 1886.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #7,173 in 2020 to #5,093 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #7,227 in 2015 to #5,093 in 2025.

In the United States, 10 girls were recorded with the name Gardner between 2012 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 5 in 2012; its best national rank was #15,688 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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Gardner?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 174,000
19 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 89,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#5,093
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
120,943 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Gardner sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 120,943 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gardner. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Gardners were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gardner was born before 1944 — so the typical Gardner is around 81 today.

Median birth year
1944
About 81 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
15.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
10.3%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,318
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 15.9% of all recorded uses (481).

Is Gardner 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
−487
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+2,080
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+2,134
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.73×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
29.2%
Peak was 1915 (65)
Years since peak
110
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
36.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#662
1886

Spellings of Gardner

Gardner is not the most common spelling — Warner is, with 53.9% against Gardner's 19.0%.

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 Gardner is used

Across 1910–2025, Gardner was most concentrated in Massachusetts — about 1 in 14,286 boys, against 1 in 173,373 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in —).

07 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Massachusetts1 in 14,286
  2. 2Vermont1 in 50,000
  3. 3New York1 in 100,000
  4. 4California1 in —
  5. 5Florida1 in —
  6. 6Illinois1 in —
  7. 7Kentucky1 in —
  8. 8Missouri1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Gardner has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Notable people named Gardner

People whose public names include Gardner, 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.

Gardner in other languages

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

Gardiner

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

Gardner by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,093
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 2,080
Best rank ever
#662
1886
Peak year
1915
65 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,016
Count in 2025
19

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#15,688
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#15,688
2025
Peak year
2012
5 that year
First recorded
2012
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
10
Count in 2025
5

Names similar to Gardner

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

GarnerGarnettGarrickGardinerGarethGarnetGarrenGarettGarfieldGarrisonGaroldGarlandWernerBrennerSumnerGarvinGarretGarenGarionKonnerGarthRainerWarnerGarreth

Names with a curve like Gardner

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

LlewellynEnnisThurstonGodfreyIvyLambertRudolfFarrisThorntonAllisonJonnieGerhard

Sibling names for Gardner

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 Gardner

Top names of 1915, Gardner's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1886Boys' names starting with G