Gitel
A feminine name of Yiddish origin meaning "good fortune" or "good luck".
Name Census estimates that about 204 living Americans carry the first name Gitel. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gitel today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gitel births was 1978 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gitel. 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 Gitel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
204
~ 1 in 1,680,168 Americans
Peak year
1978
11 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2021 SSA rank
#16,079
Tracked since 1970
Census
Gitel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 241 people with the first name Gitel, which placed it at #34,040 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
#34,040
National first-name rank
People counted
241
241 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
97.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gitel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gitel is White at 97.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Gitel 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 Gitel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White97.1% · 234
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 2
- Two or more races0.8% · 2
Popularity
Gitel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gitel from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 56 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gitel 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 Gitel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gitels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gitel
The name Gitel is a Yiddish diminutive form of the Hebrew name Gittah, which itself is a variant of the Hebrew name Gittit. The name Gittit is believed to have originated from the biblical phrase "a Gittite", referring to a person from the Philistine city of Gath. The name is first mentioned in the Book of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible, where it refers to one of David's wives, Batsheva the Gittite.
The name Gitel gained popularity among Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages. It was a common name among Jewish women, particularly in areas such as Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. The name was often used as a diminutive form to express affection or endearment.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gitel can be found in the 16th century, in the writings of the famous Jewish scholar and philosopher, Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who lived in Kraków, Poland. He mentions a woman named Gitel in his responsa, a collection of his legal rulings and decisions.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Gitel. One of the most famous was Gitel Batya Vilernik (1870-1952), a prominent Yiddish writer and playwright from Ukraine. Another notable Gitel was Gitel Zaidenberg (1887-1958), a Yiddish actress and comedian from Poland, who performed in various Yiddish theaters in Europe and the United States.
In the 18th century, there was Gitel Bashevis (1710-1780), the mother of the renowned Yiddish writer and storyteller, Sholem Aleichem. Sholem Aleichem often incorporated his mother's name, Gitel, into his stories and writings.
Another notable figure was Gitel Zambarano (1892-1978), a Yiddish singer and actress from Poland, who performed in various Yiddish theaters and cabarets in Europe and America.
Gitel Zylberberg (1873-1941) was a Yiddish writer and educator from Poland, who authored several books and articles on Jewish education and culture.
People
Gitel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gitel 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
Gitel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gitel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 204 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gitel 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 1,680,168 US residents.
Is Gitel a common name?
We classify Gitel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 211 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gitel most popular?
The single biggest year for Gitel was 1978, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gitel 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 Gitel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 241 people with the name Gitel, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,040 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 Gitel 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 Gitel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gitel appears almost entirely female. Of the 245 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Gitel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gitel is White at 97.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.2%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.8%). 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 Gitel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gitel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.1% (234 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 Gitel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gitel a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gitel 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 Gitel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gitel 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 Gitel 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 common is the name Gitel?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Gitel at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.