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Gaetan

Boys' name

Resident or native of Gaeta, through Gaëtan

Gaetan has been given to 113 babies in the U.S. since 1930. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2002, with 9 recorded.

Babies named Gaetan, 2011

1 in 732,000

Gaetan over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02.557.51018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gaetan: meaning, origin, and history

Resident or native of Gaeta, through Gaëtan

French

What Gaetan means

Gaetan belongs to the name family reached through Gaetan → Gaëtan. Its meaning is “resident or native of Gaeta”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From French Gaëtan and Gaétan, from Italian Gaetano, from Latin Caiētānus.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Gaetan (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Gaetan is used in English. Its origins include French.

Gaetan comes through French Gaëtan, Italian Gaetano and Latin Caiētānus.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Cajetan and Gaëtan.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Gaetan is pronounced /ɡɑːeɪˈtɑːn/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 113 boys were recorded with the name Gaetan between 1930 and 2011. Its highest annual count was 9 in 2002; its best national rank was #3,231 in 1953.

How common is Gaetan?

Gaetan had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2011, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2011
1 in 732,000
5 of 3,657,935 births
Among boys only
1 in 380,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2011
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
507,099 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Gaetan sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2011 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 507,099 children born in 2011 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gaetan. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Gaetans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gaetan was born before 1993 — so the typical Gaetan is around 32 today.

Median birth year
1993
About 32 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
33.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
69.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
102
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 33.6% of all recorded uses (38).

Is Gaetan rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 2002 (9)
Years since peak
23
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,231
1953

Spellings of Gaetan

Gaetan is not the most common spelling — Gaston is, with 18.8% against Gaetan's 0.52%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Gaetan around the world

Where Gaetan ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1999–2018
    #4,749
    in 2018
  • France
    1900–2025
    #747
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2010
    #2,676
    in 2010

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Gaetan by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,231
1953
Peak year
2002
9 that year
First recorded
1930
Last recorded
2011
All-time count
113
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Gaetan

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

EhitanDestanGaelanGaelenEastanKirtanZlatanAltanDastanNeytanIktanGaegeFintanGaetonAshtanChetanElnatanHattanVartanNeitanAustanAitanMattanKoltan

Sibling names for Gaetan

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Gaetan

Top names of 2002, Gaetan's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1953Boys' names starting with G