Gleason
An English given name derived from an old Irish surname meaning "descendant of the ruddy one".
Name Census estimates that about 92 living Americans carry the first name Gleason. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gleason today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gleason births was 1918 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gleason. 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 Gleason is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gleasons were born before 1958.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gleason. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
92
~ 1 in 3,725,591 Americans
Peak year
1918
18 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1965 SSA rank
#3,362
Tracked since 1913
Census
Gleason in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 185 people with the first name Gleason, which placed it at #40,305 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
#40,305
National first-name rank
People counted
185
185 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gleason
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gleason is White at 73.0%. The next largest groups are Black (12.4%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (5.9%). 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 Gleason 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 Gleason at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.0% · 135
- Black or African American12.4% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.9% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.4% · 10
- Two or more races2.2% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 2
Popularity
Gleason: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gleason from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 104 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
Gleason 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 Gleason 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 Gleason
The given name Gleason is an English name derived from the Old French word "glesier," which means "icy" or "frozen." The name likely originated in the 11th or 12th century during the Norman conquest of England, when many French words and names were introduced into the English language.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gleason dates back to the 13th century, when a man named Gleason de Berkhampstead was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Hertfordshire in 1285. The name was not particularly common during this time, but it slowly gained popularity in subsequent centuries.
In the 16th century, a notable person named Gleason was Gleason Mainwaring (1514-1589), an English landowner and Member of Parliament who represented Cheshire in 1558. During the same period, there was also a Gleason Thorne (c. 1550-1605), an English clergyman who served as the Archdeacon of Bristol.
In the 18th century, Gleason gained some recognition as the first name of Gleason Greaton (1744-1823), an American Revolutionary War soldier who fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Another notable Gleason from this time was Gleason Archer (1776-1853), an American shipbuilder and naval architect from Virginia.
One of the most famous individuals with the first name Gleason was Gleason L. Archer (1880-1963), an American theologian and educator who served as the president of Suffolk University in Boston. He was also a prolific author and a respected scholar in the field of biblical studies.
Another well-known Gleason was Gleason Archer (1916-1999), an American actor and comedian best known for his role as Ralph Kramden in the classic sitcom "The Honeymooners." He was a pioneer of television comedy and a widely respected figure in the entertainment industry.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the first name Gleason. While not as common as some other names, Gleason has left its mark on various fields, ranging from politics and religion to the arts and entertainment.
People
Gleason + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gleason 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
Gleason: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gleason?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 92 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gleason 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 3,725,591 US residents.
Is Gleason a common name?
We classify Gleason as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 383 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gleason most popular?
The single biggest year for Gleason was 1918, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gleason is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gleason in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 185 people with the name Gleason, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,305 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 Gleason 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 Gleason?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gleason leans strongly male. 176 people counted with this name were male (92.1%), compared with 15 female bearers (7.9%). 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 Gleason?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gleason is White at 73.0%. The next largest groups are Black (12.4%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (5.9%). 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 Gleason most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gleason in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.0% (135 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 Gleason in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gleason a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gleason 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 Gleason still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gleason 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 Gleason 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 Americans are named Gleason?
Want to know how many people have the name Gleason? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.