Gaeta History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Italy

Etymology of Gaeta

A variety of distinguished and notable names have emerged from the beautiful and historical Italian region of Tuscany, including the notable surname Gaeta. During the Middle Ages, as populations grew and travel between regions became more frequent, the people of Tuscany, who were originally known only by a single name, found it necessary to adopt a second name to identify themselves and their families. This process of adopting fixed hereditary surnames in Italy began in the 10th and 11th centuries, but it was not completed until the modern era. The development of Italian hereditary surnames followed general principles and were characterized by derivatives from one's given name. The patronymic surname, which is derived from the father's given name, was one of the most common name types found in the region of Tuscany. This system of name-making was widely used because it linked well with the existing Feudal System and during the Christian era, many people named their children after saints and biblical figures. The surname Gaeta came from the medieval given name Gaetano, which was originally a name from Caieta in Latium. According to tradition, the town was named after the elderly nurse of Aeneas, who died after fleeing with him from the ruins of Troy.

Early Origins of the Gaeta family

Early History of the Gaeta family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gaeta research. The years 1294, 1296, 1303, 1336, 1360, 1400, 1412, 1442, 1466, 1475, 1488, 1500, 1526, 1566, 1585, 1620 and 1624 are included under the topic Early Gaeta History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gaeta Spelling Variations

There are many variations of most of those Italian names that originated in the medieval era. Some of these come from regional differences, like the tradition of ending northern names in "o" and southern names in "i". Others come from inaccuracies in the recording process, which were extremely common in the eras before dictionaries standardized spelling. Some of the spelling variations of Gaeta are Gaeta, Gaita, De Gaita, Di Gaeta, Gaetani, Di Gaetano, Gaetano and many more.

Early Notables of the Gaeta family

• Giovanni-Baldo Gaeta, a priest from Pisa who held the position in 1466, 1475, 1488. Also at this time, the Gaeta family of Naples was officially recognized as nobility in the city. An important indivi...
• Ottavio Gaetani (1566-1620), was an Italian Jesuit and historian and Pietro Gaetani (died 1500), was a Roman Catholic prelate

Gaeta Ranking

the United States, the name Gaeta is the 12,842^nd most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1