Gates

Gates is a unisex given name: about 87% of people named Gates are men and 13% are women, so a gendered salutation is a coin flip and the neutral form is the safe choice.

Mostly maleLow

Male 87%Female 13%

We have limited data on this name. Treat the verdict as a lead, not a certainty.

Verdict: Mostly male
Male / female split: 87% male / 13% female
Confidence: Low (fewer than 8 weighted country observations)
Most common in: United States
US births since 1880: 304 male / 44 female
Data: nam_dict (GFDL) + US SSA
Updated: 2026-09-11

How to address Gates

To address Gates when you do not know their gender, use the full name with no title: "Dear Gates," in English, "Guten Tag Gates," in German. About 87% of people named Gates are men and 13% are women, so a gendered salutation is close to a coin flip, and the neutral form above is the safer choice.

Ready-made greetings in six languages

English

Dear Gates,

German

Guten Tag Gates,

French

Bonjour Gates,

Spanish

Estimado/a Gates:

Chinese

Gates您好：

Japanese

Gates様

English

Hi Gates,

German

Hi Gates,

French

Salut Gates,

Spanish

Hola Gates,

Chinese

Gates你好：

Japanese

Gatesさん

Greeting generator

This is a statistical estimate, not a statement about the gender, identity or correct form of address of any particular person.

Country breakdown

Gender of the name Gates by country (nam_dict, 55 country columns)
Country	How common	Usually	Male share
United States	rare	man's name	87%

United States birth data

304 male · 44 female · 348 births recorded

Male 87%Female 13%

Since 1980: 85% male.

Frequently asked questions

Is Gates a male or female name?

Gates is a unisex given name: about 87% of people named Gates are men and 13% are women, so a gendered salutation is a coin flip and the neutral form is the safe choice.

How do I address Gates in an email?

Is Gates a unisex name?

Gates is not a unisex name: 87% of people named Gates are men. Gates leans strongly male overall.

Sources

Gender by country: nam_dict, the c't first-names dictionary by Joerg Michael, roughly 44,000 names across 55 countries, licensed GFDL. US frequencies: United States Social Security Administration baby-name data, public domain. Method: how we classify names. Full dataset: data & licences. Data built 2026-09-11.

Cite this page

DearWho, "Is Gates a male or female name?", https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/gates (accessed 2026-09-11). Data: nam_dict (J. Michael, GFDL) and US SSA, built 2026-09-11.

BibTeX

@misc{dearwho_gates,
  title  = {Is Gates a male or female name?},
  author = {{DearWho}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/gates},
  note   = {Data: nam_dict (GFDL), US SSA public domain}
}