Name Awesome

Gauge

#4,072 in 2025Boys' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Gauge has been given to 4,821 babies in the U.S. since 1990. In 2025 it ranked #4,072 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2009, with 327 recorded.

Babies named Gauge, 2025

1 in 128,000

Gauge over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gauge: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Gauge means

Gauge is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Gauge is used in English.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,821 boys were recorded with the name Gauge between 1990 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 327 in 2009; its best national rank was #722 in 2009.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,753 in 2020 to #4,072 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #880 in 2015 to #4,072 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 Gauge?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 128,000
26 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 65,700
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,072
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
88,382 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Gauge 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 88,382 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gauge. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Gauges were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gauge was born before 2010 — so the typical Gauge is around 15 today.

Median birth year
2010
About 15 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
48.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
92.3%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
4,821
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 48.9% of all recorded uses (2,359).

Is Gauge 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
−349
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−2,319
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−3,192
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.10×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
8.0%
Peak was 2009 (327)
Years since peak
16
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#722
2009

Spellings of Gauge

Gauge is not the most common spelling — Gage is, with 51.2% against Gauge's 4.1%.

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 Gauge is used

Across 2016–2025, Gauge was most concentrated in Arkansas — about 1 in 12,500 boys, against 1 in 28,492 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in 100,000).

18 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Arkansas1 in 12,500
  2. 2Louisiana1 in 12,500
  3. 3Oklahoma1 in 14,286
  4. 4West Virginia1 in 14,286
  5. 5Idaho1 in 16,667
  6. 6Ohio1 in 16,667
  7. 7Texas1 in 16,667
  8. 8Indiana1 in 25,000

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.

Gauge around the world

Where Gauge 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.

  • Canada
    1997–2024
    #3,231
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1991–2011
    #784
    in 2011

Popularity data from Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Gauge by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,072
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 2,319
Best rank ever
#722
2009
Peak year
2009
327 that year
First recorded
1990
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,821
Count in 2025
26

Names similar to Gauge

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

GauravGautamGauthamGaurikGaudencioTemuge

Names with a curve like Gauge

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

BroganKaedenCamrynArnavCorbanJordynAidynIzayahTeaganJaydanJaidynKonner

Sibling names for Gauge

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 Gauge

Top names of 2009, Gauge's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2009Boys' names starting with G