Name Awesome

Gayla

Girls' name

Form of Gail

Gayla has been given to 10,844 babies in the U.S. since 1921. 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 617 recorded.

Babies named Gayla, 2014

1 in 618,000

Gayla over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gayla: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Gail

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Gayla means

Gayla is a form of Gail.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Gayla is used in English.

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

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Gayla → 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, 10,838 girls were recorded with the name Gayla between 1921 and 2014. Its highest annual count was 617 in 1954; its best national rank was #344 in 1954.

In the United States, 6 boys were recorded with the name Gayla between 1961 and 1961. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1961; its best national rank was #3,786 in 1961.

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 Gayla?

Gayla had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2014, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2014
1 in 618,000
6 of 3,706,812 births
Among girls only
1 in 298,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2014
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
428,229 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Gayla 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 2014 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 428,229 children born in 2014 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gayla. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Gaylas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gayla was born before 1959 — so the typical Gayla is around 66 today.

Median birth year
1959
About 66 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
36.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
2.7%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
9,127
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 36.1% of all recorded uses (3,917).

Is Gayla 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 (617)
Years since peak
71
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
29.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#344
1954

Spellings of Gayla

Gayla is not the most common spelling — Kayla is, with 15.1% against Gayla's 0.47%.

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 Gayla is used

Across 1910–2025, Gayla was most concentrated in Oklahoma — about 1 in 2,083 girls, against 1 in 17,751 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

048 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Oklahoma1 in 2,083
  2. 2Kansas1 in 4,167
  3. 3Arkansas1 in 5,263
  4. 4Missouri1 in 6,250
  5. 5Texas1 in 7,143
  6. 6Idaho1 in 9,091
  7. 7Illinois1 in 12,500
  8. 8Kentucky1 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. Gayla has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Gayla around the world

Where Gayla 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
    1944–1944
    #345
    in 1944

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

Gayla 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
#344
1954
Peak year
1954
617 that year
First recorded
1921
Last recorded
2014
All-time count
10,838
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,786
1961
Peak year
1961
6 that year
First recorded
1961
Last recorded
1961
All-time count
6
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Gayla

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

CaylaLeylaKeylaSkylaShylaTwylaTaylaZaylaNaylaAnylaGayeJaylaMylaDaylaSheylaNylaMckaylaGayleIylaShaylaMaylaTylaRaylaJakayla

Names with a curve like Gayla

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

PamalaKathiDebbyColeenDeniceCarenNanetteLaureenGeriPatricaLynSuzan

Sibling names for Gayla

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 Gayla

Top names of 1954, Gayla's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1954Girls' names starting with G