Gladys is a Welsh name, traditionally derived from Gwladys, and often given the meaning princess or royalty; it has also been linked to a Welsh form of the Roman Claudia. It carries the lilt and heritage of Wales.
Immensely popular around the turn of the twentieth century, it slipped out of fashion for decades and is now, like many Edwardian names, ripe for a stylish revival.
Charming and a little regal, Gladys is due its return.
Gladys does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.
In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Gladys reduce to 5, The Seeker. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.