Glendale
A place-name derived from Scottish Gaelic words meaning "valley" and "valley-dale".
Name Census estimates that about 368 living Americans carry the first name Glendale. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Glendale today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Glendale births was 1946 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Glendale. 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.
People living today
368
~ 1 in 931,398 Americans
Peak year
1946
21 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2011 SSA rank
#6,862
Tracked since 1915
Gender
Gender distribution for Glendale
Glendale leans heavily male at 87.0% of total registrations, but 81 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Glendale as a male name
- Ranked #12,948 in 2011
- 5 male births in 2011
- Peak: 1951 (16 births)
Glendale as a female name
- Ranked #6,862 in 1965
- 5 female births in 1965
- Peak: 1962 (8 births)
Popularity
Glendale: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Glendale from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 130 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
Glendale 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 Glendale during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Glendales live
Origin
Meaning and history of Glendale
The name Glendale is an English place name derived from the Celtic words "glen" meaning a narrow valley, and "dale" meaning a valley or open river valley. It was originally used to refer to locations with these geographic features, but eventually became adopted as a given name.
Glendale originated in areas of the British Isles where Celtic languages were spoken, such as Scotland, Ireland, and parts of England. The name first appeared in written records during the Middle Ages, often referring to specific places with narrow valleys or river valleys.
While no definitive ancient texts or religious scriptures reference the name Glendale directly as a personal name, it likely emerged as a given name among English speakers in the 18th or 19th centuries as a way to commemorate or pay homage to particular places with this name.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the given name Glendale was Glendale Ellison, a Scottish poet born in 1798. Another early example was Glendale Buchanan, an English explorer and writer born in 1822. In the United States, Glendale Everett was a notable politician from Massachusetts, born in 1839.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the name Glendale saw increasing use as a given name, often for individuals with ties to the places it referred to. For example, Glendale Armstrong was an American artist born in 1885 in the town of Glendale, California. Glendale Ferguson, a Canadian author born in 1901, was named after the Glendale region of her hometown.
Other notable individuals with the given name Glendale include Glendale Williamson, an English suffragette and activist born in 1876, and Glendale O'Connor, an Irish novelist and playwright born in 1923.
While the name Glendale is not as common today as it was in the past, it remains a unique and evocative choice that connects the bearer to the natural beauty and geographic features of its Celtic origins.
People
Glendale + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Glendale 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
Glendale: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Glendale?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 368 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Glendale 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 931,398 US residents.
Is Glendale a common name?
We classify Glendale as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 625 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Glendale most popular?
The single biggest year for Glendale was 1946, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Glendale is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Glendale a male name?
Yes, 87.0% of people registered as Glendale 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.