Gautam
Masculine · “Sanskrit "descendant of Gotama”
The Buddha's name is a clan name, and the clan system is older than surnames anywhere in Europe. Gautama is a gotra — a lineage traced to an ancient sage — and gotra literally means cow-pen, from the days when a lineage was defined by the herd it shared.
How old is the name Gautam?
Gautam first appears in US birth records in 1972 — 53 years ago. The typical Gautam alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 700 people named Gautam are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gautam most popular?
Gautam peaked in 1979, reaching #2777 nationally. Today it ranks #7679, 4,902 places below that high. See the whole 1979 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gotama to Gautam
The story of Gautam
The gotra system assigns every Brahmin family to a lineage descended from one of a small number of Vedic sages, and the word itself is transparent: go, cow, plus tra, an enclosure — a cow-pen. It is a genuine kinship system with legal force, since marriage within a gotra was prohibited, and it functions as a surname system many centuries before hereditary surnames appeared in Europe. Gautama was one of the great rishi lineages, and the Buddha's family name places him in it. The name remains ordinary across northern India. The American figures peak in 1979, with South Asian immigration.
Meaning
Sanskrit "descendant of Gotama"
Gautama is a patronymic from Gotama, a Vedic sage whose name is generally read as the greatest ox, from go, a cow or ox, with a superlative ending — cattle terms carrying high praise in Vedic usage. Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, belonged to that gotra. Gautam is the modern Hindi form; the name is also common as a surname.
How the name formed
- Gotama
- Gautama
- Gautam
Related forms: गौतम · Gautama · गौतम
Pronouncing Gautam
GOW-tum
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the au said as the ow of how and the final vowel barely sounded. English speakers often say GAW-tam, flattening the diphthong.
Nicknames for Gautam
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1972
- Most boys named
- 200828 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2777reached in 1979
- Change vs 2024
- +11.1%10 in 2025, from 9
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Gautam in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- गौतम in Hindi — transliteration
- Gautama in Sanskrit — related form
- गौतम in Nepali — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Gautams among us
people named Gautam are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 170,808 born in 2025 was named Gautam
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ollin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gautam's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ollin climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ollin's path sketches the road Gautam is walking now.
Gautam sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Gautam beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gautam in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and the lineage system behind it is well documented.
- It carries an association with one of the most significant figures in history.
- It is short, two syllables and read correctly by most English speakers.
- English speakers flatten the opening diphthong.
- Gautam and Gautham are competing transliterations.
- The Buddhist association is unavoidable and specific.
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What they receive
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Gautam
Masculine · #7679 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gautams are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Gautam are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gautam in 2025?
- Gautam ranks #7679 among US boy names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gautam?
- About 1 in every 170,808 US boys born in 2025 was named Gautam — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gautam with classmates?
- Gautam will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gautam
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Early#7679 · Obie#7679 · Huston#7679 · Knute#7679 · Rance#7679 · Blain#7679 · Doyle#7679 · Millard#7679
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gautam? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gautam and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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