Gabe
Of Hebrew origin, denoting "man of God", "messenger of God".
Name Census estimates that about 3,397 living Americans carry the first name Gabe. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gabe today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gabe births was 2005 (126 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gabe. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Gabe with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.4K
~ 1 in 100,899 Americans
Peak year
2005
126 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,598
Tracked since 1880
Census
Gabe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,541 people with the first name Gabe, which placed it at #2,023 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,023
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
13,541 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gabe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gabe is White at 71.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.9%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Gabe described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Gabe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.5% · 9,681
- Hispanic or Latino16.9% · 2,295
- Two or more races4.2% · 574
- Black or African American4.1% · 559
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 274
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 158
Popularity
Gabe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gabe from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,102 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gabe by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Gabe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gabes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. Louisiana, California, Utah recorded the most babies named Gabe, while Tennessee, South Dakota, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gabe
The name Gabe is a masculine given name derived from the Hebrew name Gabriel, which means "God is my strength" or "man of God." The name's origins can be traced back to the biblical figure Gabriel, who is an archangel in the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The name Gabriel first appeared in the Old Testament Book of Daniel, where Gabriel is mentioned as an angel who interpreted visions for the prophet Daniel. In the New Testament, Gabriel is depicted as the angel who announced the forthcoming birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary. This significant role in Christian theology contributed to the widespread popularity of the name among Christians.
In the Middle Ages, the name Gabriel was commonly used in various European regions, particularly in France, where it was often shortened to the diminutive form "Gabe." This shortened version became popular across various cultures and languages, as it was easy to pronounce and adapt to different linguistic environments.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gabe can be found in the 12th century, when Gabe de Toul, a French nobleman and crusader, participated in the Third Crusade led by Richard the Lionheart. Another notable bearer of the name was Gabe Narudolph, a 14th-century German scholar and theologian who made significant contributions to the study of biblical texts.
Throughout history, several famous individuals have borne the name Gabe. One of the most notable was Gabe the Venetian, a 15th-century Italian explorer and merchant who traveled extensively in the Middle East and established trade routes between Europe and the Ottoman Empire. In the 16th century, Gabe Neville was an English composer and organist renowned for his contributions to sacred music.
In the 19th century, Gabe García Moreno (1821-1875) was a prominent Ecuadorian statesman and political leader who served as the President of Ecuador. He was known for his efforts to modernize the country and strengthen the Catholic Church's influence. Another notable figure was Gabe Delano Roosevelt (1857-1935), an American businessman and philanthropist who was a distant cousin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In more recent times, Gabe Pressman (1924-2017) was an American journalist and television reporter who had a career spanning over six decades, covering major events such as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Watergate scandal.
People
Gabe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gabe as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gabe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gabe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,397 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gabe going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 100,899 US residents.
Is Gabe a common name?
We classify Gabe as "Rare". It ranks above 95.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,086 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gabe most popular?
The single biggest year for Gabe was 2005, when 126 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gabe is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gabe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,541 people with the name Gabe, or 4.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,023 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Gabe in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Gabe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gabe leans strongly male. 13,384 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 158 female bearers (1.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Gabe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gabe is White at 71.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.9%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Gabe most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gabe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.5% (9,681 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Gabe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gabe a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gabe in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Gabe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gabe in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Gabe can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Gabe?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Gabe, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.