Gaines
A masculine French name derived from the word "gain," meaning profit or advantage.
Name Census estimates that about 896 living Americans carry the first name Gaines. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gaines today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gaines births was 1915 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gaines. 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.
People living today
896
~ 1 in 382,538 Americans
Peak year
1915
32 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,561
Tracked since 1882
Census
Gaines in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 841 people with the first name Gaines, which placed it at #14,106 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
#14,106
National first-name rank
People counted
841
841 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gaines
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gaines is White at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Black (10.0%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Gaines 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 Gaines at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.3% · 709
- Black or African American10.0% · 84
- Two or more races3.8% · 32
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5
Popularity
Gaines: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gaines from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 239 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Gaines remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gaines 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 Gaines during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gaines' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Gaines, while Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gaines
The given name Gaines is derived from the Old French word "gaaigner," which means "to gain" or "to earn." It is believed to have originated in the 12th century during the Norman period in England. The name was likely given to individuals who were successful in their endeavors, whether it was in battle, business, or other pursuits.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gaines can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of the great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this document, there is a reference to a landowner named Gaines de Vere, who held estates in Buckinghamshire.
During the Middle Ages, the name Gaines became associated with nobility and was commonly used among the upper classes in England and France. Records show that in the 13th century, a knight named Sir Gaines de Montfort fought alongside King Edward I in the conquest of Wales.
In the 16th century, the name gained prominence with the birth of Gaines Peverell, an English philosopher and author who wrote extensively on the topic of ethics and morality. His works, published in 1567, were widely read and influenced many scholars of his time.
Another notable figure with the name Gaines was Gaines Hawkins, an English explorer and navigator who accompanied Sir Francis Drake on his famous circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580. Hawkins' detailed accounts of their journey played a crucial role in advancing geographical knowledge during the Age of Exploration.
In the 18th century, Gaines Wilberforce, a prominent British abolitionist and philanthropist, was born in 1759. He dedicated his life to the cause of ending slavery and worked tirelessly to raise awareness and support for the movement. Wilberforce's efforts were instrumental in the eventual abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire in 1807.
While the name Gaines has its roots in the Old French language and was prominent among the nobility and upper classes in medieval Europe, it has since transcended these origins and can be found in various cultures and societies around the world.
People
Gaines + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gaines 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
Gaines: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gaines?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 896 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gaines 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 382,538 US residents.
Is Gaines a common name?
We classify Gaines as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,698 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gaines most popular?
The single biggest year for Gaines was 1915, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gaines is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gaines in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 841 people with the name Gaines, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,106 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 Gaines 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 Gaines?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gaines leans strongly male. 813 people counted with this name were male (96.4%), compared with 30 female bearers (3.6%). 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 Gaines?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gaines is White at 84.3%. The next largest groups are Black (10.0%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). 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 Gaines most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gaines in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.3% (709 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 Gaines in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gaines a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gaines 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 Gaines still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gaines 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 Gaines 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 share the name Gaines?
Find out how many people have the name Gaines on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.