Cayetano
A Spanish masculine given name derived from Caius, meaning "rejoice".
Name Census estimates that about 481 living Americans carry the first name Cayetano. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cayetano today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cayetano births was 1937 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cayetano. 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.
People living today
481
~ 1 in 712,587 Americans
Peak year
1937
15 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,046
Tracked since 1906
Census
Cayetano in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,578 people with the first name Cayetano, which placed it at #8,990 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
#8,990
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,578 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
92.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cayetano
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cayetano is Hispanic at 92.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.1%) and White (1.8%). 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 Cayetano 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 Cayetano at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino92.0% · 1,452
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 80
- White1.8% · 28
- Black or African American0.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 8
- Two or more races0.1% · 2
Popularity
Cayetano: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cayetano from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 89 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Cayetano remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cayetano 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 Cayetano during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cayetanos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Cayetano
The name Cayetano originates from the Latin name Caietanus, which was derived from the Latin word "Caieta," an ancient Roman town in Italy, now known as Gaeta. The town was named after Caieta, the nurse of Aeneas in Roman mythology.
In the late 5th century, there was a famous Roman senator named Caietanus who became known as Saint Cajetan after his death. He founded the Theatine Order, a Catholic religious order, and is remembered for his works of charity and devotion to the poor. This connection to the saint is believed to have popularized the name Cayetano in predominantly Catholic regions.
The earliest recorded use of the name Cayetano can be traced back to the 16th century in Spain and Italy. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Cayetano Calderón de la Barca, a Spanish writer and playwright who lived from 1600 to 1681. He is regarded as one of the most prominent dramatists of the Spanish Golden Age.
Another notable figure was Cayetano Soler, a Spanish composer and musician who lived from 1729 to 1783. He served as the court composer and Kapellmeister to King Charles III of Spain and is known for his contributions to the development of Spanish opera.
In the 19th century, Cayetano Rodríguez Arteaga, a Cuban author and activist, played a significant role in the Cuban independence movement against Spanish rule. He lived from 1830 to 1925 and is celebrated for his literary works and his advocacy for Cuban freedom.
Cayetano Coll y Toste, a Puerto Rican historian and writer born in 1850 and died in 1930, is recognized for his extensive research and contributions to the preservation of Puerto Rican culture and history.
In the 20th century, Cayetano Ordóñez Aguilera, a Spanish bullfighter who lived from 1904 to 1961, gained fame for his exceptional skills and became one of the most celebrated toreros of his time.
People
Cayetano + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cayetano 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
Cayetano: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cayetano?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 481 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cayetano 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 712,587 US residents.
Is Cayetano a common name?
We classify Cayetano as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 745 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cayetano most popular?
The single biggest year for Cayetano was 1937, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cayetano is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cayetano in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,578 people with the name Cayetano, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,990 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 Cayetano 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 Cayetano?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cayetano appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,584 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Cayetano?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cayetano is Hispanic at 92.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (5.1%) and White (1.8%). 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 Cayetano most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Cayetano in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.0% (1,452 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 Cayetano in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cayetano a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cayetano 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 Cayetano still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cayetano 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 Cayetano 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 Cayetano as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.