Gilda
A feminine name of Germanic origin meaning "fortified protection".
Name Census estimates that about 4,258 living Americans carry the first name Gilda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gilda today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gilda births was 1947 (346 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gilda. 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 Gilda with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.3K
~ 1 in 80,497 Americans
Peak year
1947
346 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,766
Tracked since 1898
Census
Gilda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,363 people with the first name Gilda, which placed it at #2,570 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
#2,570
National first-name rank
People counted
9.4K
9,363 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
40.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gilda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gilda is Hispanic at 40.6%. The next largest groups are White (36.2%) and Black (13.9%). 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 Gilda 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 Gilda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino40.6% · 3,800
- White36.2% · 3,393
- Black or African American13.9% · 1,300
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.8% · 730
- Two or more races1.2% · 117
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 23
Popularity
Gilda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gilda from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 2,160 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gilda 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 Gilda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gildas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Gilda, while Wisconsin, Maine, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 262 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gilda
The name Gilda has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically Old German. It is derived from the Old German word "gild," which means "sacrifice" or "offering." The name was first recorded in the 7th century AD and was popular among the Visigoths and other Germanic tribes of that era.
Gilda was introduced to the English-speaking world during the Middle Ages, likely brought over by Norman settlers from France, where it was spelled "Ghilde." One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Gilda in England dates back to the 12th century in the Domesday Book, which was a survey of land ownership commissioned by William the Conqueror.
In the realm of religious and historical texts, the name Gilda is not widely mentioned. However, there are references to a Saint Gilda in the 6th century, who was a nun and abbess in the region of Brittany, France. Her life and teachings were documented in the hagiographies of the time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Gilda. One of the earliest was Gilda of Vaux (1170-1240), a French noblewoman and abbess of the Cistercian order. In the arts, Gilda Radner (1946-1989) was a renowned American comedian and actress, best known for her work on the television show Saturday Night Live.
Another famous Gilda was the Italian actress Gilda Dalle (1905-1996), who appeared in numerous films during the golden age of Italian cinema. In the literary world, Gilda Cordero-Fernando (1920-2005) was a celebrated Filipino writer and poet, known for her short stories and children's books.
Lastly, in the realm of politics, Gilda Jacobs (born 1949) is an American politician who served as a member of the Michigan State Senate and was the first woman to serve as the Senate's President Pro Tempore.
People
Gilda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gilda 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
Gilda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gilda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,258 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gilda 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 80,497 US residents.
Is Gilda a common name?
We classify Gilda as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,077 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gilda most popular?
The single biggest year for Gilda was 1947, when 346 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gilda is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gilda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,363 people with the name Gilda, or 3.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,570 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 Gilda 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 Gilda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gilda appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,356 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Gilda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gilda is Hispanic at 40.6%. The next largest groups are White (36.2%) and Black (13.9%). 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 Gilda most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Gilda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.6% (3,800 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 Gilda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gilda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gilda 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 Gilda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gilda 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 Gilda 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 Gilda?
Want to know how many Americans are named Gilda? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.