Gaetana
A feminine Italian name meaning "small landowner".
Name Census estimates that about 199 living Americans carry the first name Gaetana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gaetana today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gaetana births was 1923 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gaetana. 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
- • The typical person named Gaetana is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Gaetanas were born before 1970.
People living today
199
~ 1 in 1,722,384 Americans
Peak year
1923
27 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2008 SSA rank
#18,444
Tracked since 1904
Census
Gaetana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 680 people with the first name Gaetana, which placed it at #16,535 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
#16,535
National first-name rank
People counted
680
680 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
93.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gaetana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gaetana is White at 93.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Black (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 Gaetana 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 Gaetana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.1% · 633
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 23
- Black or African American1.8% · 12
- Two or more races1.2% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Gaetana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gaetana from the 1900s through to the 2000s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 181 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gaetana 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 Gaetana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gaetanas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Gaetana, while Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 95 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gaetana
The name Gaetana has its origins in ancient Italy, derived from the Latin name Caietanus, which referred to someone from the town of Caieta, now known as Gaeta. The name Gaetana is the feminine form of the Italian name Gaetano.
In ancient Roman times, Caieta was a coastal town in the region of Latium, situated along the Tyrrhenian Sea. The name Caietanus was likely given to individuals born or residing in this town during the Roman era. As Latin spread throughout the Roman Empire, the name would have been adopted and adapted in various regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gaetana can be found in the 13th century. Gaetana Thiene, born in 1456 in Vicenza, Italy, was a Catholic saint and the founder of the religious Order of the Eremitani. She is known for her charitable works and her efforts to promote education and religious devotion.
Another notable figure with the name Gaetana was Gaetana Agnesi, an Italian mathematician, philosopher, and theologian born in 1718 in Milan. She is renowned for her work in calculus and her contributions to the study of differential equations. Agnesi's book, "Analytical Institutions," published in 1748, was a significant work that helped advance the understanding of mathematics.
In the 19th century, Gaetana Radice, an Italian painter and sculptor, was born in 1858 in Naples. She is known for her realistic and naturalistic works, particularly her portraiture and sculptures depicting everyday life.
Gaetana Ando, born in 1873 in Messina, Sicily, was an Italian educator and women's rights activist. She played a crucial role in promoting education and advocating for gender equality in Italy during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Gaetana Turrisi Colonna, born in 1881 in Palermo, Sicily, was an Italian writer and poet. She was a prominent figure in the Sicilian literary movement and is known for her works that explored themes of love, nature, and the complexities of human emotions.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Gaetana. While the name has its roots in ancient Italy, it has been adopted and used across various cultures and regions over the centuries, reflecting its enduring appeal and historical significance.
People
Gaetana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gaetana 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
Gaetana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gaetana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 199 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gaetana 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 1,722,384 US residents.
Is Gaetana a common name?
We classify Gaetana as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 676 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gaetana most popular?
The single biggest year for Gaetana was 1923, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gaetana is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gaetana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 680 people with the name Gaetana, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,535 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 Gaetana 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 Gaetana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gaetana appears almost entirely female. Of the 678 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Gaetana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gaetana is White at 93.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Black (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 Gaetana most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gaetana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.1% (633 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 Gaetana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gaetana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gaetana in the SSA data are female. 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 Gaetana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gaetana 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 Gaetana 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 Gaetana?
See how many people share the name Gaetana on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.