Gail (given name)

Gail is a masculine and feminine given name.

As a feminine name, it can be a short form of the Biblical name Abigail.

Gail has been used as a masculine and feminine name, and until the 1930s, was equally rare on either sex. Between the 1930s and 1960s its use as a feminine name increased, as a consequence marginalizing masculine usage by about 1960.

Alternate spellings include Gaile, Gale, and Gayle.

Notable people with the given name include:

• Gail Boggs (born 1951), American actress
• Gail Borden (1801–1874), American inventor
• Gail Borden (figure skater) (1907–1991), American figure skater
• Gail Brodsky (born 1991), American tennis player
• Gail Bruce (1923–1998), American football player
• Gail Collins (born 1945), American journalist
• Gail Cronauer (born 1948), American actress
• Gail Davies, (born 1948), American country singer/songwriter
• Gail Devers (born 1966), American athlete
• Gail Ann Dorsey (born 1962), American musician
• Gail Emms (born 1977), British badminton player
• Gail Finney (1959-2022), American businesswoman and politician
• Gail Fisher (1935–2000), American actress
• Gail Goodrich (born 1943), American basketball player
• Gail Grandchamp (born 1955), American boxer
• Gail Halvorsen (1920–2022), American air force pilot
• Gail Jonson (born 1965), New Zealand swimmer
• Gail Kim (born 1976), Canadian wrestler
• Gail Carson Levine (born 1947), American writer
• Gail Nkoane Mabalane (born 1984), South African actress and model
• Gail Miller (water polo) (born 1976), Australian water polo player
• Gail Minault (born 1939), American historian
• Gail O'Grady (born 1963), American actress
• Gail Phillips (1944–2021), American politician
• Gail Porter (born 1971), British television presenter
• Gail Ryan (born 1939), American hairstylist
• Gail Shapiro (1947–2006), American pediatric allergist
• Gail Sheehy (1936–2020), American writer
• Gail Simmons (born 1976), Canadian food critic
• Gail Simone (born 1974), American comics writer
• Gail Skare (born 1939), American politician
• Gail Tipa (born 1959), New Zealand resource management planner

Fictional characters

• Gail, fictional comics character created by French cartoonist Philippe Druillet
• Gail, fictional character in the 1999 video game Dino Crisis
• Gail Leery, fictional character in the television series Dawson's Creek
• Gail Platt, fictional character in the television series Coronation Street
• Gail Wynand, fictional character in the 1943 novel The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
• Gail Peck, a fictional character from the TV series Rookie Blue
• Gail Hailstorm, fictional character from Scary Movie

See also

• Gaël (given name)
• Gale (given name)
• Gayle (given name)