Gleb
A Russian masculine given name meaning "lump of earth or clay".
Name Census estimates that about 161 living Americans carry the first name Gleb. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gleb today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gleb births was 2013 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gleb. 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 Gleb with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
161
~ 1 in 2,128,909 Americans
Peak year
2013
20 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2022 SSA rank
#13,001
Tracked since 2003
Census
Gleb in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 602 people with the first name Gleb, which placed it at #18,028 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
#18,028
National first-name rank
People counted
602
602 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
95.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gleb
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gleb is White at 95.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.5%). 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 Gleb 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 Gleb at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White95.8% · 577
- Two or more races1.7% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 6
Popularity
Gleb: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gleb from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 122 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
Gleb 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 Gleb during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Glebs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gleb
The name Gleb has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly in Russian and Ukrainian. It is derived from the Old Church Slavonic word "glubu," meaning "deep" or "profound." The name was popular in the medieval period among the Eastern Slavic peoples, particularly in the territories that now comprise modern-day Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gleb can be found in the medieval Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years," which recounts the lives of the Kievan Rus' princes Gleb and Boris, the sons of Prince Vladimir the Great. According to the chronicle, Gleb and Boris were martyred by their brother Sviatopolk in 1015, and their cult as passion-bearers (individuals who suffered for their faith but did not actively seek martyrdom) was later established in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Another notable historical figure with the name Gleb was Gleb Naumovich, a 12th-century Russian prince who ruled the Principality of Pereyaslavl from 1149 to 1169. He played a significant role in the political affairs of the Kievan Rus' and was involved in numerous conflicts with other princes.
In the 15th century, Gleb Semenovich was a prominent Russian boyar (nobleman) and military leader who served under Ivan III, the Grand Prince of Moscow. He participated in various military campaigns, including the conquest of Novgorod in 1478.
During the 16th century, Gleb Ivanovich Naryshkin, a Russian boyar and diplomat, served as an envoy to various European courts, including those of Sweden and Denmark. He was also a member of the Boyar Duma, the highest advisory council in the Tsardom of Russia.
Another notable figure with the name Gleb was Gleb Yakunin, a Russian Orthodox priest and human rights activist who was born in 1934. He was a prominent dissident during the Soviet era and advocated for religious freedom and human rights. He was repeatedly arrested and imprisoned for his activities but continued to be a vocal critic of the Soviet regime.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Gleb, which has deep roots in the Slavic cultural and linguistic traditions.
People
Gleb + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gleb 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
Gleb: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gleb?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 161 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gleb 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 2,128,909 US residents.
Is Gleb a common name?
We classify Gleb as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 162 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gleb most popular?
The single biggest year for Gleb was 2013, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gleb is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gleb in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 602 people with the name Gleb, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,028 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 Gleb 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 Gleb?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gleb appears almost entirely male. Of the 606 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Gleb?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gleb is White at 95.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.5%). 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 Gleb most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gleb in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.8% (577 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 Gleb in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gleb a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gleb 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 Gleb still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gleb 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 Gleb 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 have the name Gleb?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.