Gaius
given name · Latin script
Meaning: A classic Roman name with a joyful meaning, Gaius was borne by a New Testament figure known for his immense generosity and for providing his home as a sanctuary for the early church
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/ɡajəs/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Gaius is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Nigeria than in any other country.
- NGNigeria≈1 in 36K(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 668K
- CMCameroon≈1 in 38K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Nigeria (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 125 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 36K (inferred from the name graph)
≈6,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Nigeria, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
A classic Roman name with a joyful meaning, Gaius was borne by a New Testament figure known for his immense generosity and for providing his home as a sanctuary for the early church. The name carries a sense of history, strength, and hospitality.
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Attested across 18 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Gaius counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NG Nigeria | ≈6,000 est. | ≈1 in 36K | — | Gaius | 43 |
| UG Uganda | ≈1,000 est. | ≈1 in 43K | 1 | — | 2 |
| CD Congo - Kinshasa | ≈860 est. | ≈1 in 118K | — | Gaius | 5 |
| CM Cameroon | ≈720 est. | ≈1 in 38K | — | Gaius | 3 |
| US United States | 498 | 1 in 668K | 492 | Gaius | 125 |
| GA Gabon | ≈21 est. | ≈1 in 108K | 1 | — | — |
| GY Guyana | 7 | 1 in 107K | 7 | — | 1 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; Guyana — Official List of Electors July 2025; Ministere de l'Interieur — 2025 candidate lists (local + legislative); Wikidata humans by citizenship — given & family names. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Gaius is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
The name Gaius, meaning 'to rejoice,' has a strong historical and biblical background. It suggests a personality of loyalty and a supportive nature, as seen in the biblical figure who was a trusted companion to the Apostle Paul.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Gaius is a common Roman praenomen of uncertain origin, possibly derived from the Latin verb 'gaudere', meaning 'to rejoice'. It may also have an unknown Etruscan origin.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
From the common Roman praenomen Gaius, which is likely derived from the Latin verb 'gaudere', meaning 'to rejoice'.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Gaius exemplifies the Christian virtue of hospitality and the vital role of lay members in supporting the church's mission. His willingness to open his home for worship and to host apostles like Paul demonstrates a model of generosity, faith, and practical service that was foundational to the early church's expansion.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Gaius of Derbe represents the many ordinary yet faithful believers who played a vital role in the early church by supporting the apostles and participating directly in missionary work. His journey with Paul exemplifies the practical fellowship and unity among the diverse Christian communities of the first century.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Gaius S. Turnerb. 1838CACanadian politician
- Gaius Glenn Atkinsb. 1868USAmerican minister
- Burke Hanfordb. 1871USnot in their usual nameUnited States Navy Medal of Honor recipient (1871-1928)
- Gaius Shaverb. 1910USAmerican football player and coach (1910-1998)
- James G. Wattb. 1938USnot in their usual nameUnited States Secretary of the Interior (1938-2023)
- Alan McIntoshb. 1942AUnot in their usual nameAustralian mathematician (1942-2016)
- Gaio Chiocchiob. 1954ITnot in their usual nameItalian composer and singer-songwriter
- Gaius Charlesb. 1983USAmerican actor
- Da Emperorb. 1993NGnot in their usual nameNigerian indigenous rapper
- Gaïus Makoutab. 1997FRFrench association football player
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 26 sources across 18 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | wru Name Dictionary — US surnames, voter-file supplement (Khanna et al.) | — | — | — |
Reference works 2
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Gaius mean, and where does it come from?
- A classic Roman name with a joyful meaning, Gaius was borne by a New Testament figure known for his immense generosity and for providing his home as a sanctuary for the early church. Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- What are other forms of the name Gaius?
- In the etymology graph, Kay, Kai and Caio are forms of the same name in other languages.
- Is Gaius a male or female name?
- Gaius is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- How do you pronounce Gaius?
- A machine transcription gives /ɡajəs/ (IPA) for English.
- How common is the name Gaius?
- In the United States, the national register counted 498 people named Gaius in 2020, about 1 in 668 thousand residents.
- In which country does Gaius have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 6.0 thousand people named Gaius in Nigeria, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled gaius.
What do you want to know about Gaius?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/gaiusThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Gaius”. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.