Glen
From the Gaelic gleann, a narrow valley, which entered Scots and English both as an ordinary word and as a surname before being taken up as a given name.
Glen in 2025
Glen was given to 74 babies in the United States in 2025, making it the 4,326th most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 44,802 babies born.
The history of Glen
Glen reached its highest point in 1957, when 2,947 babies were given the name, ranking 274th that year. Its best-ever ranking was 250th, in 1930.
Across the 146 years of records since 1880, 127,054 babies have been named Glen. Half of them were born before 1952, which places the name's centre of gravity with the Baby Boomers.
Glen by decade
| Decade | Babies named Glen | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 457 | 436 |
| 1890s | 997 | 393 |
| 1900s | 1,392 | 407 |
| 1910s | 8,700 | 270 |
| 1920s | 15,239 | 259 |
| 1930s | 14,709 | 250 |
| 1940s | 16,723 | 269 |
| 1950s | 25,603 | 266 |
| 1960s | 22,003 | 275 |
| 1970s | 9,884 | 321 |
| 1980s | 5,359 | 690 |
| 1990s | 3,113 | 990 |
| 2000s | 1,525 | 1,727 |
| 2010s | 945 | 3,126 |
| 2020s | 405 | 3,900 |
Where Glen is heading
Glen has fallen 21% over the past decade, from 94 babies in 2015 to 74 in 2025.
That is less than 5% of its 1957 peak — Glen is now a rare name in the United States.
Names like Glen
Names that rose and fell at the same time as Glen.