Gypsy
A name believed to come from the ethnic slur "Gypsy" for the Romani people.
Name Census estimates that about 1,108 living Americans carry the first name Gypsy. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gypsy today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gypsy births was 2020 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gypsy. 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
1.1K
~ 1 in 309,345 Americans
Peak year
2020
39 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,114
Tracked since 1891
Popularity
Gypsy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gypsy from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 214 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Gypsy remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gypsy 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 Gypsy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gypsys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Gypsy, while Kentucky, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gypsy
The name Gypsy is derived from the word "Gypsy," which refers to the Romani people, an ethnic group that originated in the Indian subcontinent. The Romani people were nomadic and migrated to Europe and other parts of the world in the Middle Ages.
The term "Gypsy" is believed to have originated from the mistaken belief that the Romani people came from Egypt. The name Gypsy is not a traditional Romani name but rather a term assigned to them by others.
The use of the name Gypsy as a given name became popular in the 19th century, particularly in English-speaking countries. It was often associated with a romanticized view of the Romani lifestyle and culture.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Gypsy was in the 1806 novel "The Gypsy" by George Walker. The novel featured a character named Gypsy who was a Romani woman.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Gypsy. One of the most famous was Gypsy Rose Lee (1911-1970), an American burlesque entertainer and author. Her memoir, "Gypsy: A Memoir," was later adapted into the Broadway musical "Gypsy."
Another notable figure was Gypsy Petulengro (1903-1990), an English Romani woman who was a celebrated writer and storyteller. She wrote several books about Romani culture and traditions, including "Gypsy, the Romany" (1935).
In the world of music, Gypsy Boots (1914-2004) was an American singer and actress who performed in Broadway musicals and Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s.
Gypsy Davy (1953-2014) was a Scottish traveller and writer known for her memoirs, including "The Faraway Traveller" (1989), which documented her experiences growing up in a Scottish traveller community.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard (born 1992) gained notoriety for her involvement in the murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, in 2015. The case gained widespread media attention and was the subject of several documentaries and a television series.
People
Gypsy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gypsy 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
Gypsy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gypsy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,108 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gypsy 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 309,345 US residents.
Is Gypsy a common name?
We classify Gypsy as "Rare". It ranks above 90.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,490 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gypsy most popular?
The single biggest year for Gypsy was 2020, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gypsy is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Gypsy a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gypsy 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.
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.