# Gaetan (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/gaetan/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | French |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ɡɑːeɪˈtɑːn/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 113 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 113 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 7, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

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

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1952 | 5 | 3,929 |
| 1953 | 7 | 3,232 |
| 1954 | 6 | 3,576 |
| 1989 | 6 | 7,295 |
| 1991 | 5 | 8,636 |
| 1992 | 6 | 7,782 |
| 1993 | 6 | 7,974 |
| 1996 | 7 | 7,396 |
| 1998 | 6 | 8,841 |
| 1999 | 8 | 7,385 |
| 2001 | 8 | 7,787 |
| 2002 | 9 | 7,233 |
| 2006 | 7 | 9,910 |
| 2010 | 5 | 12,900 |
| 2011 | 5 | 12,918 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 4 | 2,425 |
| 2018 | 3 | 4,749 |

## People named Gaetan

- Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest, French zoologist (1784–1838)
- Gaëtan Bong, Cameroonian and French footballer
- Gaëtan Dugas, Canadian flight attendant, long misidentified as the index case of the North American AIDS
- Gaétan Boucher, Canadian speed skater
- Gaëtan Englebert, Belgian footballer
- Gaëtan Laborde, French footballer
- Gaëtan Charbonnier, French footballer
- Gaëtan Perrin, French association football player
- Gaëtan Bussmann, French footballer
- Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault, French psychiatrist (1872–1934)
- Gaëtan Bille, Belgian cyclist
- Gaétan Soucy, Canadian writer

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.