Gaetano
Of Italian origin, meaning "healthy, strong, glad".
Name Census estimates that about 2,107 living Americans carry the first name Gaetano. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gaetano today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gaetano births was 1921 (87 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gaetano. 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 Gaetano with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 162,674 Americans
Peak year
1921
87 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,739
Tracked since 1904
Census
Gaetano in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,243 people with the first name Gaetano, which placed it at #5,327 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
#5,327
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,243 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
93.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gaetano
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gaetano is White at 93.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Gaetano 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 Gaetano at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.2% · 3,022
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 159
- Two or more races1.0% · 34
- Black or African American0.7% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 5
Popularity
Gaetano: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gaetano 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 658 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
Gaetano 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 Gaetano during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gaetanos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Gaetano, while Rhode Island, Illinois, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 273 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gaetano
The name Gaetano is of Italian origin, derived from the Latin name Caietanus, which means "from Caieta" or "from Gaeta". Gaeta is a coastal city in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy. The name has been in use since ancient Roman times, with its earliest recorded use dating back to the 1st century AD.
One of the earliest known historical figures bearing the name Gaetano was Saint Gaetano Thiene (1480-1547), an Italian Catholic priest and religious reformer. He founded the Clerks Regular of the Divine Providence, also known as the Theatine Order. Saint Gaetano was canonized in 1671 by Pope Clement X.
Another notable figure with the name Gaetano was Gaetano Filangieri (1752-1788), an Italian jurist, philosopher, and one of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment era. His work "La Scienza della Legislazione" (The Science of Legislation) was a significant contribution to the philosophy of law and had a profound impact on the development of modern legal systems.
In the realm of music, Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) was an Italian composer who is best known for his operas, including "Lucia di Lammermoor," "L'elisir d'amore" (The Elixir of Love), and "Don Pasquale." He was a leading figure in the bel canto opera tradition and is considered one of the most influential composers of the 19th century.
In the field of science, Gaetano Savi (1769-1844) was an Italian botanist and entomologist. He made significant contributions to the study of insects and was a pioneer in the field of entomology. His work on the classification and description of insects was highly influential in the early 19th century.
Finally, Gaetano Mosca (1858-1941) was an Italian political scientist and theorist. He is best known for his theory of the ruling class, which he developed in his book "Elementi di Scienza Politica" (Elements of Political Science). Mosca's work had a significant impact on the field of political sociology and the study of power dynamics in societies.
People
Gaetano + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gaetano 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
Gaetano: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gaetano?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,107 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gaetano 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 162,674 US residents.
Is Gaetano a common name?
We classify Gaetano as "Rare". It ranks above 93.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,834 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gaetano most popular?
The single biggest year for Gaetano was 1921, when 87 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gaetano is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gaetano in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,243 people with the name Gaetano, or 1.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,327 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 Gaetano 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 Gaetano?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gaetano appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,249 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Gaetano?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gaetano is White at 93.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Two or More Races (1.0%). 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 Gaetano most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Gaetano in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.2% (3,022 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 Gaetano in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gaetano a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gaetano 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 Gaetano still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gaetano 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 Gaetano 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 Gaetano?
See how many Americans are named Gaetano on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.