Gleb
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Meaning
“Russian form of the Old Norse Guðleifr, from guð, 'god', and leifr, 'heir' or 'inheritance'; borne by Saint Gleb of Kievan Rus”
The story
Gleb is Russian by way of Scandinavia: the Old Norse Guðleifr, from guð, god, and leifr, glossed heir by some references and inheritance, legacy by others. The anchor story is a thousand years old. Gleb and his brother Boris, princes of Kievan Rus, were killed around 1015 in the power struggle that followed the death of their father, Vladimir the Great, and because they met death without resisting evil with violence, they were canonized as passion-bearers, the first saints ever made in Kievan Rus. Russia has kept the name working since: Gleb Uspensky wrote, Gleb Panfilov directed, Gleb Savchenko dances. Neither the American record nor Brazil's census carries enough Glebs to count. One syllable, a god's inheritance folded inside it, and the oldest sainthood in the Russian book.
How popular is Gleb around the world?
In the United States, Gleb is on the Social Security birth record for 2020 to 2025. In Spain, 286 residents are named Gleb, ranked 3,494th among men, with a mean age of 22.6 years.
Gleb is on the official records of the United States and Spain.
United States
on record
In the United States, Gleb is on the Social Security birth record for 2020 to 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Gleb has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Spain
1 in 160,000
In Spain, 286 residents are named Gleb, ranked 3,494th among men, with a mean age of 22.6 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Canada
last on record 2018
Gleb is not on the 2024 record for Canada, where names under 5 in a year are excluded at source.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
last on record 2022
Gleb is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Ireland
last on record 2012
Gleb is not on the 2025 record for Ireland, where names under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
South Australia
last on record 1958
Gleb is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and Scotland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown.
Keep exploring
The Gleb deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Gleb truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Gleb fits with your family’s names and surname.
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