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SHARED SPELLING

✦ Two distinct US naming histories

Gay

Used in both girl and boy records

Gay appears in both girl and boy US naming records. Compare the two independent popularity histories, ranks, and peak years.

Choose a record

Gay by gender

Each record below preserves the original rank, use count, active years, and peak year for that gender. The spelling is shared; the data histories are not combined.

GIRL RECORDGay as a girl’s nameUS records 1886–1982
#841girl rank1959peak year
Read girl record ↗BOY RECORDGay as a boy’s nameUS records 1883–1974
#3645boy rank1941peak year
Read boy record ↗

Popularity ledger

Girl and boy use over time

GirlBoy

Trace the annual recorded uses of Gay in the national name files. Hover a peak marker, move across the chart, or use the arrow keys to inspect an exact annual count and rank.

At a glance

RecordPeak yearHighest rankObserved usage
Girl1959682 uses#31519431886–198295 listed years
Boy194142 uses#73918901883–197477 listed years

Annual counts and within-year ranks from the SSA national-name archive, 1880–2020. Names with fewer than five births in a year are not listed in the source files.