Find out how popular the last name Gage is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Gage.

Gage, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Gage surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Gage in America

Gage is the 2187th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Gage surname appeared 16,614 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 people would have the surname Gage.

We can also compare 2010 data for Gage to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Gage

The surname GAGE originated in England and is derived from the Old French word "gauge," meaning a measure or gauge. The name is thought to have first appeared in the 12th century and was likely an occupational name for someone who worked as a surveyor, inspector, or measurer of land, goods, or materials.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire from 1195, where a person named Richard le Gagour is mentioned. The surname was also recorded in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1273, where a Richard le Gauge is listed.

The GAGE surname is believed to have originated in the county of Suffolk, where it was particularly prevalent in the medieval period. The parish of Gage in Suffolk may have been named after an early bearer of the surname, or vice versa.

In the 13th century, a person named John le Gage was recorded as holding lands in the village of Gage in Suffolk. This is one of the earliest known instances of the surname being associated with a specific location.

The GAGE surname has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history, including Sir Thomas Gage (1597-1656), an English soldier and colonial governor of Virginia, and Thomas Gage (1719-1787), a British military leader who served as the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in North America during the American Revolutionary War.

Another prominent figure with the GAGE surname was Nicholas Gage (1939-2008), an American author and journalist best known for his memoir "Eleni," which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1983.

In the literary world, James Gage (1615-1654) was an English Puritan minister and author who wrote several religious works, while Thomas Gage (1597-1675) was an English Catholic missionary who wrote about his experiences in Mexico and Central America in his book "The English-American: A New Survey of the West Indies."

The GAGE surname has also been associated with various places, such as Gage County in Nebraska, which was named after a prominent early settler named John Gage, and the town of Gage, Oklahoma, which was likely named after another individual with the same surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Gage

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Gage.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Gage was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Gage has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Gage was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Gage, please contact us.

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