Galit
A feminine Hebrew name meaning "wave" or "surge".
Name Census estimates that about 135 living Americans carry the first name Galit. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Galit today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Galit births was 1993 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Galit. 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
135
~ 1 in 2,538,921 Americans
Peak year
1993
9 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,515
Tracked since 1973
Popularity
Galit: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Galit from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 38 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Galit remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Galit 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 Galit during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Galits live
Origin
Meaning and history of Galit
The name Galit is of Hebrew origin, derived from the Biblical Hebrew word "galut," which means "exile" or "diaspora." The name is believed to have emerged during the time of the Babylonian exile, a significant event in Jewish history when many Israelites were forcibly deported from their homeland to Babylon in the 6th century BCE.
Galit has its roots in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, where the concept of exile is prominently featured. The name may have been given to children born during this period as a reminder of the hardships endured by the Israelites in their forced displacement.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Galit is found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. The Talmud mentions a woman named Galit, the daughter of Rabbi Yossi, who lived during the 2nd century CE.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Galit. One such person was Galit Dayan (1923-2003), an Israeli writer and journalist, known for her autobiographical works and her marriage to the famous military leader and politician, Moshe Dayan.
Another prominent figure was Galit Chait (born 1964), an Israeli Olympic swimmer who competed in the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the latter.
In the realm of academia, Galit Hasan-Rokem (born 1945) is a renowned Israeli scholar and professor of Hebrew literature and Jewish folklore at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The name Galit has also been associated with some historical figures from the ancient world. One example is Galit, the daughter of Hercules and the goddess Hebe, according to Greek mythology.
Additionally, there are records of a woman named Galit who lived in ancient Rome during the 1st century CE and was known for her involvement in the Jewish community there.
While the name Galit has its origins in Hebrew and is deeply rooted in Jewish history, it has also been adopted by various cultures and communities around the world, with individuals bearing this name across different ethnicities and religions.
People
Galit + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Galit 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
Galit: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Galit?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 135 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Galit 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 2,538,921 US residents.
Is Galit a common name?
We classify Galit as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 141 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Galit most popular?
The single biggest year for Galit was 1993, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Galit is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Galit a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Galit 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.
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.