Gift
A noun representing something given freely without expectation of return.
Name Census estimates that about 201 living Americans carry the first name Gift. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Gift today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gift births was 2018 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gift. 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 Gift with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
201
~ 1 in 1,705,245 Americans
Peak year
2018
20 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,701
Tracked since 1999
Census
Gift in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 513 people with the first name Gift, which placed it at #20,216 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
#20,216
National first-name rank
People counted
513
513 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
88.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gift
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gift is Black at 88.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%) and White (2.5%). 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 Gift 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 Gift at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American88.3% · 453
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 30
- White2.5% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino2.1% · 11
- Two or more races1.2% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Gift
Gift leans heavily female at 81.3% of total registrations, but 38 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Gift as a male name
- Ranked #12,892 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (11 births)
Gift as a female name
- Ranked #7,701 in 2024
- 14 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Gift on both sides of the split. Of the 512 people counted with this name, 180 were male (35.2%) and 332 were female (64.8%).
Popularity
Gift: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gift from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 96 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Gift remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gift 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 Gift during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gift
The name Gift has its origins in the Old English language and can be traced back to the medieval period in England. It is derived from the Old English word "gifu," which means "a gift" or "a present." The name likely emerged as a descriptive name referring to a child who was considered a gift or blessing.
In the early days, the name Gift was primarily used as a surname, with records showing its use in this context as early as the 12th century. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname Gift was Robert le Gifte, who was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Northamptonshire in 1195.
As a first name, Gift gained popularity during the Puritan movement in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritans often chose biblical or virtue-based names for their children, and Gift was seen as a suitable choice, representing the idea of a child being a gift from God.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the first name Gift was Gift Longham, who was born in England around 1600. Longham was a Puritan minister and is noted for his work as a religious writer and preacher.
Another notable bearer of the name Gift was Gift Sill, an English soldier and colonist who was born in 1635. Sill emigrated to America and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he became a landowner and prominent member of the community.
In the 18th century, the name Gift found its way into religious texts and writings. For example, the Quaker minister Gift Thompson, born in 1734, was known for her powerful sermons and advocacy for women's rights within the Quaker community.
Jumping forward to the 19th century, Gift Jones, born in 1823, was a Welsh minister and author who wrote extensively on religious and moral topics. His works, such as "The Gift of Grace" and "The Gift of Eternal Life," likely contributed to the continued use of the name Gift among Christian communities.
Another notable figure was Gift Sihlali, a South African activist and leader of the African National Congress (ANC), who was born in 1891. Sihlali played a significant role in the struggle against apartheid and was imprisoned for his political activities.
While the name Gift has retained some usage throughout history, it has become less common in modern times, particularly in English-speaking countries. However, it continues to be used in various parts of the world, with its meaning and symbolism as a "gift" or "blessing" remaining an enduring aspect of its significance.
People
Gift + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gift 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
Gift: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gift?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 201 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gift 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 1,705,245 US residents.
Is Gift a common name?
We classify Gift as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 203 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gift most popular?
The single biggest year for Gift was 2018, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gift is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gift in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 513 people with the name Gift, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,216 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 Gift 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 Gift?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Gift on both sides of the split. Of the 512 people counted with this name, 180 were male (35.2%) and 332 were female (64.8%). 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 Gift?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gift is Black at 88.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%) and White (2.5%). 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 Gift most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Gift in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.3% (453 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 Gift in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gift a female name?
Yes, 81.3% of people registered as Gift 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 Gift still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gift 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 Gift 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 Gift?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.