Gage

About Gage

Gage is an English surname name with two Old French occupational explanations: “measure,” associated with an assayer, or “pledge,” associated with a moneylender. It is pronounced GAYJ, in one syllable. Its modern given-name history is closely connected with Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.

A short surname with two explanations

The surname’s proposed meanings belong to different kinds of work. Measuring and assessing materials underlies the assayer explanation; taking a pledge or security underlies the moneylending explanation.

The modern first name retains the surname’s spelling and sound. Its long a and final j sound make it rhyme with “page” and “stage.” Gage is already a complete one-syllable form, without requiring a longer formal name.

Its relatively recent popularity as an American first name should be distinguished from the older surname. One of the best-known historical Gages carried it as a family name, while the fictional character who helped spread it carried Gage as his first name.

Phineas Gage

Phineas Gage survived a severe injury in 1848 when an iron rod passed through his head. The rod was three feet seven inches long. He lost an eye, but his survival made the case a lasting subject in the history of neurology.

His physician, John Harlow, later donated Gage’s skull and the tamping iron to Harvard’s Warren Anatomical Museum in 1868. The preserved objects give the familiar case a physical record beyond its repeated appearance in medical histories.

This association belongs to the surname Gage. It places the spelling in nineteenth-century medical history, quite separately from its later use in fiction and birth records.

Gage Creed in Pet Sematary

Stephen King’s Pet Sematary was published in November 1983. Gage is the son of Louis and Rachel Creed, whose family moves from Chicago to rural Maine.

Their home stands beside a dangerous road. Nearby children have made a cemetery for animals killed by traffic, while another burial place deeper in the woods draws Louis into the novel’s supernatural events.

King’s own experience helped shape the setting. While living near a truck route, he had to bury his daughter’s cat after it was killed. He also remembered pulling his young son Owen back from the road. Those experiences fed the book’s exploration of loss and the wish to reverse it.

The 1989 film adaptation, directed by Mary Lambert, cast Miko Hughes as Gage. The book and film helped bring this uncommon first name before a much wider audience.

American popularity

Gage was given to fifteen American boys in 1980. By 2000 the count was 2,348, and it reached its strongest year in 2003, with 2,939 births and a rank of #136.

In 2025 it ranked #973, with 235 boys. Its largest American generation followed the name’s literary and screen exposure, although the surname itself was much older.

How popular is Gage?

In 2025, Gage ranked #973 among boys in the United States, with 235 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1914; its largest annual count was 2,939 in 2003. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.