Galen
Galen is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 47 births. Its best rank was 329th, in 1949.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 470.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 1949433 births
- Best rank
- #329in 1949
- Since 1889
- 17,036people given the name
The story in the numbers
16,476 boys have been named Galen in the United States since 1889, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1949, with 433 births.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1959, and the 1950s alone account for 18%. It has spent 90 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 560 girls have also been given it, 3.3% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Galen | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 6 | |
| 1890s | 24 | |
| 1900s | 52 | |
| 1910s | 519 | |
| 1920s | 1,039 | |
| 1930s | 1,352 | |
| 1940s | 2,445 | |
| 1950s | 2,938 | |
| 1960s | 1,956 | |
| 1970s | 1,642 | |
| 1980s | 1,542 | |
| 1990s | 1,447 | |
| 2000s | 791 | |
| 2010s | 497 | |
| 2020s | 226 |
In 1949, its biggest year
Galen was the 329th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1949 were James, Robert, John, William and Michael. See all of 1949.
Names that rose and fell with Galen
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Kennethpeak 1957
- Neilpeak 1954
- Douglasspeak 1970
- Johnnypeak 1947
- Rudypeak 1960
- Lennardpeak 1949
- Curtisspeak 1959
- Alphonzopeak 1963
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.