Gal
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "wave" or "ripple".
Name Census estimates that about 365 living Americans carry the first name Gal. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 63.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Gal today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gal births was 1996 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gal. 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 Gal with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
365
~ 1 in 939,053 Americans
Peak year
1996
21 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2006 SSA rank
#11,093
Tracked since 1947
Census
Gal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,909 people with the first name Gal, which placed it at #5,745 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
#5,745
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,909 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gal is White at 70.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.4%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Gal 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 Gal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.1% · 2,038
- Hispanic or Latino13.4% · 389
- Black or African American9.7% · 281
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 127
- Two or more races2.0% · 58
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Gal
Gal is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 388 total registrations, 143 (36.9%) were male and 245 (63.1%) were female.
Gal as a male name
- Ranked #11,093 in 2006
- 6 male births in 2006
- Peak: 1996 (14 births)
Gal as a female name
- Ranked #11,401 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gal leans strongly female. 2,444 people counted with this name were female (84.0%), compared with 466 male bearers (16.0%).
Popularity
Gal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gal from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 128 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Gal remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gal 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 Gal during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gals live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gal
The name Gal has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture. It is a short form of the Hebrew name Galit, which means "wave" or "ripple." This name has been used in the region of ancient Judea and Israel since biblical times.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Gal can be found in the Book of Genesis, where it is mentioned as the name of one of the sons of Eber, a descendant of Shem. In the biblical account, Gal is listed among the ancestors of the Israelites.
Throughout the centuries, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Gal. One of the most famous was Gal Gadot, an Israeli actress, model, and producer born in 1985. She is best known for her portrayal of Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe films.
Another notable figure was Gal Sone, a Jewish poet and philosopher who lived in the 11th century CE. He was born in Malaga, Spain, and is known for his contributions to the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Andalusia.
In the field of science, Gal Hirsch (1958-2018) was an Israeli astrophysicist and astronomer. He made significant contributions to the study of black holes and the early universe.
Gal Gadot-Perez (born 1978) is an Israeli politician and former member of the Knesset, serving from 2013 to 2015. She was a member of the Yesh Atid party and focused on issues related to education and social affairs.
Gal Mekel (born 1988) is an Israeli professional basketball player who has played in various leagues, including the NBA, where he briefly played for the Dallas Mavericks in the 2013-2014 season.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Gal, which has its roots in the ancient Hebrew language and culture.
People
Gal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gal 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
Gal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 365 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gal 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 939,053 US residents.
Is Gal a common name?
We classify Gal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 388 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gal most popular?
The single biggest year for Gal was 1996, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gal is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,909 people with the name Gal, or 0.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,745 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 Gal 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 Gal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gal leans strongly female. 2,444 people counted with this name were female (84.0%), compared with 466 male bearers (16.0%). 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 Gal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gal is White at 70.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.4%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Gal most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.1% (2,038 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 Gal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gal a female name?
Yes, 63.1% of people registered as Gal in the SSA data are female. 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 Gal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gal 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 Gal 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 are named Gal?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.