Gayle (given name) explained

Gayle
Gender:	Unisex
Language:	Hebrew Anglo-Saxon
Meaning:	Happy God; Father in rejoicing; a father's joy
Derived:	Abigail
Variant Forms:	Gail Gale

Gayle is a variant spelling of Gail, a short form of the name Abigail.^[1]

Abigail is a feminine English name with Hebrew origins, meaning "my father is joy." In the Old Testament Abigail was King David's third wife, described as 'good in discretion and beautiful in form'.^[2] The name is used in modern English and was a popular baby's name during the 1950s and 1960s.^[1]

Gayle may occasionally be used as a masculine name.

People with the given name Gayle

• Taylor Gayle Rutherford (known mononymously as GAYLE) (born 2004), American pop rock singer
• Gayle Benson (born 1947), American businesswoman
• Gayle King (born 1954), American television personality and journalist
• Gayle McCormick (1948–2016), American singer, member of the band Smith
• Gayle Rankin, Scottish actress
• Gayle Rubin (born 1949), American anthropologist and activist
• Gayle Ruzicka, American politician and activist

Fictional characters

• Gayle Gossip, a character in Ninjago

Notes and References

1. A Dictionary of First Names, Patrick Hanks & Flavia Hodges, Oxford University Press, 1990, .
2. King James Bible.