Caetano
A masculine Portuguese name derived from the Roman surname Caietanus.
Name Census estimates that about 136 living Americans carry the first name Caetano. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Caetano today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caetano births was 2012 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caetano. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Caetano with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
136
~ 1 in 2,520,252 Americans
Peak year
2012
12 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,877
Tracked since 2003
Census
Caetano in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 184 people with the first name Caetano, which placed it at #40,443 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#40,443
National first-name rank
People counted
184
184 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caetano
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caetano is White at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.2%) and Black (12.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Caetano described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Caetano at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.0% · 92
- Hispanic or Latino27.2% · 50
- Black or African American12.5% · 23
- Two or more races6.0% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 3
Popularity
Caetano: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caetano from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 55 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Caetano remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caetano by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Caetano during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caetano
The name Caetano has its origins in Latin, deriving from the Roman family name Caietanus, which referred to someone from the ancient city of Caieta, located in modern-day Italy. The city's name is believed to have originated from the Greek word "kainos," meaning "new" or "recent," suggesting a possible connection to a new settlement or colony.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the writings of the ancient Roman historian Suetonius, who mentions a man named Caietanus in his work "The Lives of the Twelve Caesars." This suggests that the name was in use during the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD.
In the Christian tradition, the name gained significance due to its association with Saint Caietanus, also known as Gaetano di Thiene, an Italian Catholic priest and founder of the religious order of Theatines. He lived from 1480 to 1547 and was canonized in 1671 by Pope Clement X.
During the Renaissance period, the name Caetano became particularly popular in Italy, where it was associated with several notable figures. One such individual was Caetano Veloso, a renowned Brazilian singer-songwriter and influential figure in the Tropicália movement of the 1960s, born in 1942.
Another prominent historical figure with the name was Caetano Mosca, an Italian political scientist and theorist, who lived from 1858 to 1941. He is known for his contributions to the development of the elite theory of government and his work "The Ruling Class."
In the realm of literature, Caetano Cárdenas was a Mexican novelist and short story writer, born in 1927. He is celebrated for his works that explored the lives and experiences of marginalized communities in Mexico.
Furthermore, the name Caetano has been carried by several notable athletes, such as Caetano Veloso, a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward for several clubs, including Flamengo and Corinthians, during the 1950s and 1960s.
Overall, the name Caetano has a rich historical legacy, spanning centuries and cultures, from its Roman origins to its prominence in various fields, including religion, music, literature, and sports.
People
Caetano + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caetano as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Caetano: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caetano?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 136 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caetano going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,520,252 US residents.
Is Caetano a common name?
We classify Caetano as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 137 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caetano most popular?
The single biggest year for Caetano was 2012, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caetano is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caetano in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 184 people with the name Caetano, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #40,443 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Caetano in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Caetano?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caetano appears almost entirely male. Of the 177 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Caetano?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caetano is White at 50.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (27.2%) and Black (12.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Caetano most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caetano in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.0% (92 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Caetano in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caetano a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caetano in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Caetano still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caetano in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Caetano can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Caetano?
See how many people share the name Caetano on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.