How Many People Are Named Gary?
people named Gary are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 568 people in the US has this name
Based on 905,438 babies named Gary in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
⭐⭐ Common
Peak Year
38,839 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
From an English surname which was derived from a Norman given name, which was itself originally a short form of names beginning with the Germanic element ger meaning "spear". This name was popularized in the late 1920s the American actor Gary Cooper (1901-1961), who took his stage name from the city of Gary in Indiana where his agent was born.
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
Same Sound, Other Spellings
These names are pronounced like Gary in English. Counting Gary and these spellings together, about 634,056 people alive in the US have the name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Almost all of the babies given the name Gary (99.6%) were boys.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Gary alive today is about 64 years old, and 71% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 57 and 74 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Gary first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1952, to 38,839 babies. In 2025, 201 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Gary reached #9 among boys' names in 1954, and was in the top 10 for 5 years, 1950 to 1954. In 2025 it ranked #1,073.
| Boys | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #1,073 |
| Best rank | #9 (1954) |
| Years in the top 10 | 5 |
| Years in the top 100 | 56 (1933 to 1988) |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #12 in the 1950s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Gary alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Gary were born in California than in any other state: about 51,727 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Gary was given about 1.5 times as often in Iowa, Idaho and Kansas.
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