Caio
A masculine name of Latin origin meaning "rejoice" or "exult".
Name Census estimates that about 680 living Americans carry the first name Caio. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Caio today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caio births was 2023 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caio. 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 Caio with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
680
~ 1 in 504,050 Americans
Peak year
2023
40 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,695
Tracked since 1990
Census
Caio in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,309 people with the first name Caio, which placed it at #10,261 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
#10,261
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,309 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caio
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caio is White at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.3%) and Black (6.2%). 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 Caio 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 Caio at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.2% · 1,024
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 83
- Black or African American6.2% · 81
- Two or more races5.3% · 70
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 7
Popularity
Caio: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caio from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 250 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Caio remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caio 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 Caio during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caios live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Massachusetts, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Caio, while Florida, California, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 59 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caio
The given name Caio has its origins in ancient Roman culture, deriving from the Latin word "Gaius," which means "to rejoice" or "to be happy." It was a common praenomen, or personal name, among Roman citizens during the Republican and Imperial periods.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Caio can be traced back to the Roman Republic, with notable figures such as Gaius Julius Caesar, the famous military leader and statesman who played a crucial role in the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. Caesar was born in 100 BC and assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 BC.
Another prominent historical figure bearing the name Caio was Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, a Roman historian and biographer who lived in the early 2nd century AD. He is best known for his work "De Vita Caesarum," which provides invaluable insights into the lives of the first twelve Roman emperors.
In the realm of philosophy, Gaius Musonius Rufus, a Stoic philosopher who lived during the 1st century AD, was a notable bearer of the name. He was revered for his teachings on ethics and virtue, and his works influenced later Stoic thinkers.
Moving into the Christian era, one cannot overlook Gaius, also known as Caius, a 3rd-century Christian author and theologian. He is remembered for his writings against the Montanist heresy and his contributions to early Christian literature.
Another significant figure was Gaius Marius, a Roman general and statesman who lived in the 2nd century BC. He played a pivotal role in reforming the Roman army and was elected consul an unprecedented seven times, making him one of the most influential political figures of his time.
Throughout history, the name Caio has been used across various cultures and regions, often adapted to fit the local language and traditions. While its origins can be traced back to ancient Rome, the name has transcended its original context and has been embraced by many societies, each adding its unique cultural significance and historical relevance.
People
Caio + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caio 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
Caio: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caio?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 680 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caio 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 504,050 US residents.
Is Caio a common name?
We classify Caio as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 687 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caio most popular?
The single biggest year for Caio was 2023, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caio is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caio in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,309 people with the name Caio, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,261 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 Caio 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 Caio?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caio appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,308 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Caio?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caio is White at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.3%) and Black (6.2%). 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 Caio most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caio in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.2% (1,024 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 Caio in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caio a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caio 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 Caio still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caio 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 Caio 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 Caio?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.