Gilead
A biblical place name meaning "hill of testimony" or "perpetual hill".
Name Census estimates that about 89 living Americans carry the first name Gilead. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gilead today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gilead births was 2015 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gilead. 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 Gilead with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gilead. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
89
~ 1 in 3,851,172 Americans
Peak year
2015
11 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,261
Tracked since 1992
Popularity
Gilead: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gilead 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 39 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gilead 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 Gilead 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 Gilead
The name Gilead has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture. It is a biblical name mentioned several times in the Old Testament of the Bible. The name is derived from the Hebrew words "gal'ed" which mean "rocky region" or "hill of testimony."
In the Bible, Gilead was a mountainous region located east of the Jordan River. It was known for its fertile lands and was considered a part of the Promised Land given to the Israelites by God. The name appears in several books of the Bible, including Genesis, Numbers, and Judges.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gilead is in the Book of Genesis, where it is mentioned as the place where Jacob and Laban set up a heap of stones as a witness to their covenant. The name is also associated with the Israelite tribe of Gad, who settled in the region of Gilead.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Gilead. One of the earliest was Gilead, the son of Machir and grandson of Manasseh, who is mentioned in the Book of Numbers. Another biblical figure with this name was Jephthah, a judge of Israel who is said to have been from Gilead.
In more recent times, Gilead has been used as a given name, although it is not as common as some other biblical names. One notable bearer of the name was Gilead Muraviev (1750-1793), a Russian general and statesman who served under Catherine the Great.
Other notable individuals named Gilead include Gilead A. Smith (1815-1900), an American politician and abolitionist; Gilead Bacon (1789-1859), an American missionary and educator; and Gilead Sher (born 1954), an Israeli lawyer and diplomat.
While the name Gilead is not as widely used today as it once was, it has a rich history and biblical significance that has been preserved throughout the centuries.
People
Gilead + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gilead 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
Gilead: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gilead?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 89 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gilead 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 3,851,172 US residents.
Is Gilead a common name?
We classify Gilead as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 90 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gilead most popular?
The single biggest year for Gilead was 2015, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gilead is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Gilead in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gilead a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gilead 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 Gilead still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gilead 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 Gilead 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are called Gilead?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.