Holding steady.
Popularity of Gaylia since 1928
Babies named Gaylia per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 1952, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Gaylia's real moment was 1938.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1920s | 6 |
| 1930s | 93 |
| 1940s | 61 |
| 1950s | 48 |
| 1960s | 10 |
| 1970s | 0 |
| 1980s | 0 |
| 1990s | 0 |
| 2000s | 0 |
| 2010s | 0 |
| 2020s | 0 |
Meaning & origin
Gaylia first appeared in U.S. birth records in 1928 and saw its peak usage in 1938, when it reached its highest frequency of the century. Like many elaborated feminine names of the era, it was formed by adding the suffix -ia to the popular nickname Gail, which itself is a diminutive of the biblical Abigail. The name's trajectory has been remarkably stable: after a brief period of modest use during the 1930s and 1940s, it gradually faded from common use, and by the 2020s it had become exceedingly rare, with its latest recorded year being 2025. Unlike some other vintage names, Gaylia has not experienced a revival in recent decades. Its top states of usage do not appear in the data, indicating that its appeal was broadly distributed rather than concentrated in any region.
Gaylia is a feminine name that arose in the early 20th century as an elaboration of Gail, itself a diminutive of Abigail. The name follows a pattern of creating ornate feminine forms by adding the suffix -ia, popular in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. It never achieved widespread popularity but saw modest use during its peak decade.
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Gay, Lea
Variants: Gayla, Gailia
Sibling names for Gaylia
Names that share Gaylia's style, for a brother or sister.
