Gaius
A masculine Roman name derived from Latin meaning "rejoicer".
Name Census estimates that about 463 living Americans carry the first name Gaius. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gaius today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gaius births was 2014 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gaius. 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 Gaius with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
463
~ 1 in 740,290 Americans
Peak year
2014
42 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,618
Tracked since 1920
Census
Gaius in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 498 people with the first name Gaius, which placed it at #20,655 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
#20,655
National first-name rank
People counted
498
498 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
50.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gaius
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gaius is White at 50.6%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Two or More Races (9.8%). 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 Gaius 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 Gaius at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White50.6% · 252
- Black or African American22.1% · 110
- Two or more races9.8% · 49
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 44
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.6% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 5
Popularity
Gaius: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gaius from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 229 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Gaius remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gaius 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 Gaius during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gaius' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gaius
The name Gaius has its origins in ancient Rome, dating back to the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It is derived from the Latin word "gaudere," which means "to rejoice" or "to be glad." The name was commonly used among Roman citizens and was frequently found in historical records and inscriptions from the time.
One of the earliest and most notable historical references to the name Gaius is in the writings of the ancient Roman philosopher, statesman, and orator Cicero, who lived from 106 BC to 43 BC. Cicero mentions several individuals named Gaius in his works, including Gaius Cassius Longinus, a Roman politician and one of the assassins of Julius Caesar.
The name Gaius was also prominent in the early Christian era. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, a Roman historian who lived from around 70 AD to 122 AD. He is best known for his work "De Vita Caesarum" (The Lives of the Caesars), a collection of biographies of the first twelve Roman emperors.
Another significant historical figure with the name Gaius was Gaius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder, a Roman author and naturalist who lived from 23 AD to 79 AD. He is renowned for his encyclopedic work "Naturalis Historia" (Natural History), which covered a wide range of subjects, including astronomy, geography, anthropology, and zoology.
In the realm of Roman law, Gaius was the name of a prominent Roman jurist who lived in the 2nd century AD. His work, known as the "Institutiones" (Institutes), was a highly influential legal text that served as a foundation for Roman law and has had a lasting impact on legal systems throughout the world.
Another notable individual with the name Gaius was Gaius Valerius Catullus, a Roman poet who lived from around 84 BC to 54 BC. He is best known for his lyric poems, which were considered among the finest in Latin literature and had a significant influence on later poets.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Gaius, a name with deep roots in ancient Roman culture and a rich historical legacy.
People
Gaius + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gaius 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
Gaius: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gaius?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 463 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gaius 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 740,290 US residents.
Is Gaius a common name?
We classify Gaius as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 498 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gaius most popular?
The single biggest year for Gaius was 2014, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gaius is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gaius in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 498 people with the name Gaius, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,655 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 Gaius 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 Gaius?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gaius leans strongly male. 492 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 6 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Gaius?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gaius is White at 50.6%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Two or More Races (9.8%). 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 Gaius most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gaius in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.6% (252 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 Gaius in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gaius a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gaius 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 Gaius still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gaius 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 Gaius 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 Gaius as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Gaius on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.