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

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