Glade
An Old English name meaning a bright opening or clearing in the woods.
Name Census estimates that about 394 living Americans carry the first name Glade. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Glade today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Glade births was 1939 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Glade. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Glade is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Glades were born before 1970.
People living today
394
~ 1 in 869,935 Americans
Peak year
1939
24 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,705
Tracked since 1913
Popularity
Glade: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Glade from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 143 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Glade 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 Glade during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Glades live
Origin
Meaning and history of Glade
The name Glade is derived from the Old English word "glæd," which means "bright" or "shining." It's believed to have originated in the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD, in regions that are now part of England and southern Scotland.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Glade can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record of events in Anglo-Saxon England, where a person named Glade is mentioned as a witness to a land charter in the year 685 AD.
In medieval times, the name Glade was sometimes associated with Christian religious contexts. For example, there was a monk named Glade who lived in the 9th century and is recorded in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People by the Venerable Bede.
A notable historical figure with the name Glade was Glade Scogan, an English poet and courtier who lived in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. He was known for his satirical works and served as a tutor to the sons of King Henry IV.
Another person of historical significance was Glade Dudley, an English clergyman and academic who lived in the 16th century. He served as the Dean of Windsor from 1557 to 1559 and was a renowned scholar and theologian.
In the 17th century, there was a Glade Browne, an English playwright and poet who wrote several comedies and tragedies that were performed at the theatre. He was also known for his satirical writings and political allegiances.
During the 18th century, Glade Walpole was a prominent English politician and writer. He served as a member of parliament and was also known for his literary works, including his famous letters and memoirs.
While the name Glade was more common in earlier centuries, it has become less frequently used in modern times, though it still retains its connection to its Old English roots and connotations of brightness and radiance.
People
Glade + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Glade 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
Glade: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Glade?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 394 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Glade 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 869,935 US residents.
Is Glade a common name?
We classify Glade as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 829 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Glade most popular?
The single biggest year for Glade was 1939, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Glade is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Glade a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Glade 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.
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.