Gaetan
A French masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "little goat".
Name Census estimates that about 97 living Americans carry the first name Gaetan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gaetan today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gaetan births was 2002 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gaetan. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gaetan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
97
~ 1 in 3,533,550 Americans
Peak year
2002
9 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2011 SSA rank
#12,917
Tracked since 1930
Popularity
Gaetan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gaetan from the 1930s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 38 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gaetan 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 Gaetan 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 Gaetan
The name Gaetan originated from the Latin name Caietanus, which was derived from the ancient town of Caieta, located in the region of Lazio, Italy. This town was named after the legendary nurse Caieta, who cared for Aeneas, the Trojan hero in Virgil's Aeneid.
The name Caietanus was widely used in ancient Rome and was later adopted by early Christians, especially in Italy and France. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Gaetan can be found in the life of St. Gaetan of Thiene, an Italian priest and founder of the Clerks Regular (also known as the Theatines), who lived from 1480 to 1547.
Another notable figure from history was Gaetano Donizetti, an Italian composer born in 1797, who is renowned for his operas such as Lucia di Lammermoor and L'elisir d'amore. He is considered one of the leading composers of the bel canto opera style.
In the realm of literature, Gaetano Mosca, an Italian political scientist and philosopher born in 1858, is known for his theory of the ruling class, which he outlined in his seminal work "The Ruling Class."
The name Gaetan also has religious significance, as it was the name of Pope Gaetano, who reigned as Pope Gelasius II from 1118 to 1119. During his brief pontificate, he was involved in a power struggle with the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V.
In the world of art, Gaetano Previati, an Italian painter born in 1890, was a prominent figure of the Divisionist movement, known for his use of pointillism and his exploration of symbolism and mysticism in his works.
While these are just a few examples, the name Gaetan has a rich history spanning various fields and time periods, reflecting its Latin origins and its enduring presence in Western cultures.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Gaetan
People
Gaetan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gaetan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gaetan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gaetan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 97 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gaetan 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 3,533,550 US residents.
Is Gaetan a common name?
We classify Gaetan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 113 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gaetan most popular?
The single biggest year for Gaetan was 2002, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gaetan is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Gaetan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gaetan 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.
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.