Gay

Where Gay comes from

The dictionaries list Gay as a given name — a unisex given name from English — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • English
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1886
    First appearance
    #1,108 among girls, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1887
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
  3. 1932
    Gay Brewer born
    professional golfer
  4. 1932
    Gay Talese born
    American writer
  5. 1943
    Peak, #315
    487 babies named Gay — more than any year before or since.
  6. 1966
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #620.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name from English.
  • A female given name from English, from the word gay (“joyful”); rare today.
  • A male given name from English.
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
  • A diminutive of the male given names Gaylord and Gabriel, and similar names
Namesakes
  • Gay Talese · American writer, born 1932
  • Gay Brewer · professional golfer, 1932–2007
  • Gay Seabrook · actress, 1901–1970
  • Gay Hamilton · British actress, born 1943
  • Gay McDougall · American lawyer, born 1947

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.