Explore the Family Name Gales

The meaning of Gales

1. English: from the personal name Gale(s) (nominative case-form of Old French Galon), central French form of Wale(s) (see Wales). 2. Possibly an Americanized form of German Gölz (see Goelz).

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Gales in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Gales showed an increase in popularity between 2000 and 2010. The rank of this surname moved from 8236 to 7937 during this decade, representing a change of 3.63%. In terms of sheer numbers, the count of individuals bearing the Gales surname experienced a more significant increase of 12.58%, moving from 3703 in 2000 to 4169 in 2010. As a proportion per 100,000 people, the name increased slightly from 1.37 to 1.41.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#8,236	#7,937	3.63%
Count	3,703	4,169	12.58%
Proportion per 100k	1.37	1.41	2.92%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Gales

As for ethnic identity, the Gales surname demonstrated diverse changes over the same period, according to the data from the Decennial U.S. Census. Most notably, there was a substantial increase of 98.68% within the Asian/Pacific Islander group, with its percentage rising from 0.76 to 1.51. There was also a noticeable increase of 42.93% in those identifying as two or more races, moving from 2.05 to 2.93. Meanwhile, the Hispanic ethnicity saw an increase of 49.45%, growing from 2.73 to 4.08. On the other hand, there were slight decreases within the White and Black ethnicities, falling by -3.15% and -2.72% respectively. Lastly, a notable decline was seen in the American Indian and Alaskan Native category, dropping by -36.76%.

	2000	2010	Change
Black	52.52%	51.09%	-2.72%
White	41.26%	39.96%	-3.15%
Hispanic	2.73%	4.08%	49.45%
Two or More Races	2.05%	2.93%	42.93%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.76%	1.51%	98.68%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.68%	0.43%	-36.76%