NameRealm
Gay

Gay: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“cheerful, lively”
Origin
English
Say it
GAY · 1 syllable
Used for
Girls (93% of all uses)

From Middle English gay, borrowed from Old French gai meaning cheerful or bright. It has also been used as a short form of Gaynor or Gayle.

English namesFrench namesNames meaning joyVintage namesShort names

How popular is Gay?

20240 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Gay in 20240

Peak year1943

Total US babies since 188019,367

Gay was not given to enough US babies in 2024 to appear in the records.

Names like Gay

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Gayejoyful · French
  • Oliviaolive tree · English
  • Evelyndesired; little bird · English
  • Harperharp player · English
  • Violetviolet flower · English
  • Hazelhazel tree · English
  • Ellieshort form of names ending in -el or -ella · English
  • Lilylily flower · English

Gay questions

What does the name Gay mean?

Gay means "cheerful, lively". It comes from English. From Middle English gay, borrowed from Old French gai meaning cheerful or bright. It has also been used as a short form of Gaynor or Gayle.

Is Gay a boy or girl name?

Gay is mainly a girl's name in US records (93% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Gay?

Gay was given to fewer than 5 babies of either sex in 2024; its peak year was 1943.

How do you pronounce Gay?

Gay is usually pronounced GAY.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.