Gabor
A Hungarian masculine name of derived meaning "heavenly messenger" or "one bestowed with God's gift".
Name Census estimates that about 112 living Americans carry the first name Gabor. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gabor today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gabor births was 1962 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gabor. 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 Gabor with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
112
~ 1 in 3,060,307 Americans
Peak year
1962
11 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,679
Tracked since 1914
Census
Gabor in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,170 people with the first name Gabor, which placed it at #11,112 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
#11,112
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,170 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
97.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gabor
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gabor is White at 97.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.8%) and Two or More Races (0.6%). 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 Gabor 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 Gabor at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White97.2% · 1,137
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 21
- Two or more races0.6% · 7
- Black or African American0.3% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 2
Popularity
Gabor: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gabor from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 51 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gabor 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 Gabor during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gabors live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gabor
The given name Gabor originates from the Hungarian language. It is derived from the Old Hungarian name Gábriel, which in turn comes from the Hebrew name Gabriel, meaning "God is my strength." The name Gabor gained popularity in Hungary during the Middle Ages, around the 11th to 15th centuries.
The earliest known record of the name Gabor dates back to the 13th century, appearing in medieval Hungarian documents. It was commonly used among the Hungarian nobility and aristocracy during this period.
One of the earliest notable historical figures with the name Gabor was Gabor Bethlen (1580-1629), a Prince of Transylvania who played a significant role in the Thirty Years' War. Another prominent figure was Gabor Baross (1848-1892), a Hungarian politician and Minister of Public Works.
In the 20th century, Gabor gained international recognition through the renowned Hungarian-American actress Zsa Zsa Gabor (1917-2016), known for her glamorous lifestyle and numerous marriages. Her sisters, Eva Gabor (1919-1995) and Magda Gabor (1915-1997), were also actresses.
Another famous bearer of the name was Gabor Maté (born 1944), a Hungarian-Canadian physician and author known for his work on addiction and childhood trauma.
In the world of science, Gabor Dennis (1900-1979) was a Hungarian-British electrical engineer and physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971 for his contributions to holography.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the given name Gabor, which has its roots in the Hungarian language and culture, with a meaning linked to strength and faith.
People
Gabor + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gabor 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
Gabor: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gabor?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 112 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gabor 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 3,060,307 US residents.
Is Gabor a common name?
We classify Gabor as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 147 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gabor most popular?
The single biggest year for Gabor was 1962, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gabor is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gabor in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,170 people with the name Gabor, or 0.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,112 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 Gabor 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 Gabor?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gabor appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,175 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Gabor?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gabor is White at 97.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.8%) and Two or More Races (0.6%). 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 Gabor most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gabor in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.2% (1,137 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 Gabor in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gabor a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gabor 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 Gabor still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gabor 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 Gabor 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 Americans are named Gabor?
See how many people have the name Gabor on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.