# Gill (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/gill/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Norse |
| Meaning | “ravine”, “glen”, “joy”, “moisture” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈd͡ʒɪl/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 1,274 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 1,218 / 56 (4% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, converged from variants of Giles (sometimes through Dutch), Julian, and William. * As a northern English surname, from Middle English gil (“ravine, glen”), from Old Norse gil. The Old Norse is also a source of the Norwegian surname. * As an Irish and Scottish Gaelic surname, variant of McGill. * Also as an Irish surname, variant of Gall. * As a Jewish/Israeli given name, as well as surname, from Hebrew גיל (“joy”). * As a German surname, variant of Gilger. * As a Sikh Punjabi surname originating in India, from ਗਿੱਲ (gill, “moisture”).

## What it means

Gill is grouped under joy.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1948 | 6 | 4,868 |
| 1949 | 5 | 5,524 |
| 1953 | 5 | 5,984 |
| 1955 | 6 | 5,433 |
| 1956 | 8 | 4,585 |
| 1957 | 5 | 6,412 |
| 1962 | 6 | 6,112 |
| 1964 | 10 | 4,451 |
| 1966 | 5 | 6,913 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 9 | 5,530 |
| 1991 | 6 | 7,595 |
| 1992 | 10 | 5,374 |
| 1993 | 10 | 5,495 |
| 1994 | 5 | 9,317 |
| 1995 | 6 | 8,154 |
| 1996 | 12 | 4,989 |
| 1997 | 5 | 9,784 |
| 1998 | 7 | 7,870 |
| 1999 | 9 | 6,715 |
| 2000 | 6 | 9,505 |
| 2002 | 5 | 11,288 |
| 2004 | 5 | 11,968 |
| 2005 | 8 | 8,548 |
| 2006 | 5 | 12,690 |

## People named Gill

- Gill Swerts, Belgian association football player
- John Gill Lemmon, American botanist (ca. 1832—1908)
- Steven G. Bradbury, American lawyer

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.