Gillen

Boys' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Gillen has been given to 5 babies in the U.S. since 1990. 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 1990, with 5 recorded.

Babies named Gillen, 1990

1 in 790,000

Gillen over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gillen: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Gillen means

Gillen is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Gillen is used in Basque.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5 boys were recorded with the name Gillen between 1990 and 1990. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1990; its best national rank was #8,578 in 1990.

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 Gillen?

Gillen had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1990, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1990: 1 in 790,000; 5 of 3,949,959 births
Among boys only: 1 in 411,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1990: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 547,582 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Gillen 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 1990 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 547,582 children born in 1990 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gillen. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Gillens were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gillen was born before 1990 — so the typical Gillen is around 35 today.

Median birth year: 1990; About 35 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 5; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (5).

Is Gillen 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 1990 (5)
Years since peak: 35; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #8,578; 1990

Spellings of Gillen

Gillen is not the most common spelling — Allen is, with 47.8% against Gillen's <0.01%.

Allen47.8%271,796
Glen22.1%125,706
Dillon11.5%65,225
Kellen3.0%17,042
Cullen2.9%16,591
Galen2.9%16,500
Miller2.0%11,172
Callen1.7%9,501

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.

Gillen around the world

Where Gillen 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
2009–2009
#4,527
in 2009
Scotland
2012–2012
#669
in 2012
France
2010–2016
#6,151
in 2016

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland and Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Gillen by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #8,578; 1990
Peak year: 1990; 5 that year
First recorded: 1990
Last recorded: 1990
All-time count: 5
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Gillen

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

Gilber Gilligan Maylen Weslen Gillard Whelen Saylen Gilfred Lakelen Xailen Murlen Thalen Brelen Drelen Noslen Brilen Khelen Tailen Zhalen Hollen Myrlen Noalen Gile Dellen

Sibling names for Gillen

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

Kacy Kortney Mai Shante Kathryne Jessika Brittni Kristian

For a brother

Laron Dejuan Antwon Akeem Tyron Shay Elizabeth Kelsey

Explore around Gillen

Top names of 1990, Gillen's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1990 Boys' names starting with G Basque Boy Names Basque Names