Gladiola

Girls' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Gladiola has been given to 166 babies in the U.S. since 1915. 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 1924, with 12 recorded.

Babies named Gladiola, 1995

1 in 732,000

Gladiola over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gladiola: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Gladiola means

Gladiola is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Gladiola is used in English.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 166 girls were recorded with the name Gladiola between 1915 and 1995. Its highest annual count was 12 in 1924; its best national rank was #2,714 in 1932.

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 Gladiola?

Gladiola had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1995, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1995: 1 in 732,000; 5 of 3,660,254 births
Among girls only: 1 in 352,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1995: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 507,420 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Gladiola 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 1995 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 507,420 children born in 1995 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gladiola. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Gladiolas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gladiola was born before 1928 — so the typical Gladiola is around 97 today.

Median birth year: 1928; About 97 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 45.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 6.0%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 10; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 45.2% of all recorded uses (75).

Is Gladiola 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 1924 (12)
Years since peak: 101; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 45.3% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,714; 1932

Gladiola 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: #2,714; 1932
Peak year: 1924; 12 that year
First recorded: 1915
Last recorded: 1995
All-time count: 166
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Gladiola

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

Jadesola Anapaola Damilola Simisola Teniola Gladyes Gladine Gladie Gwendola Glayds Glendola Gladies Gladyse Winola Abimbola Osceola Glenola Gladene Glacier Nickola Captola Eniola Aderinsola Omolola

Sibling names for Gladiola

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

Rosina Kattie Lavon Blanch Jaunita Vernell Dorris Leonora

For a brother

Alvis Eldridge Merritt Lacy Delmer Wilton Elwin Domenick

Explore around Gladiola

Top names of 1924, Gladiola's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1932 Girls' names starting with G