boy's name
Gaston
gas-TOHN
- Origin French
- Gender Boy
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 98,855
France
#193
2025 births
Gaston is a boy's name most likely meaning "from Gascony," and a Disney villain has made it difficult in English while France is reviving it. It ranks 193rd in France and is reviving from a 1920 peak.
- Gaston is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 1920, when 3,155 babies were given the name.
- After peaking in the 1920s it fell out of use, and is now climbing again — a classic revival in France.
- Today about 1 in 2,105 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1900.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Gaston over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 25,715 |
| 1910s | 21,345 |
| 1920s | 23,405 |
| 1930s | 11,885 |
| 1940s | 4,595 |
| 1950s | 2,240 |
| 1960s | 675 |
| 1970s | 210 |
| 1980s | 155 |
| 1990s | 285 |
| 2000s | 705 |
| 2010s | 1,690 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 1,790 |
What Gaston means
Gaston most likely means from Gascony, the region of southwestern France. A Germanic derivation from gast, a guest or stranger, is also proposed, and the two cannot be separated with confidence.
Where Gaston comes from
Gaston is generally derived from Gascony — the Gascons taking their name from the Vascones, the same people who gave their name to the Basques — though a Germanic gast, meaning guest or stranger, is a competing proposal. The name belonged to a long line of counts of Foix and viscounts of Béarn, of whom Gaston III, called Fébus, was a fourteenth-century soldier, poet and author of a famous treatise on hunting. Gaston Leroux wrote The Phantom of the Opera. In English the name now carries an obstacle it does not have in French: Disney's 1991 Beauty and the Beast made Gaston its swaggering antagonist, and the association is close to total for anglophone parents — which is a good illustration of how a single film can put a name out of use in one language while it revives in another.
Gaston in use
Gaston ranks 193rd in France with about 280 births in 2025 and our records mark it reviving from a peak in 1920 — a vintage French name returning after a century. Our records carry it from 1900. It is very rare in the United States at 3,397th and absent from the British tables, where the Disney association is strongest.
How popular is Gaston?
In 2025, Gaston was given to 280 babies in France, ranking #193 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Gaston is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Gaston
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Gaston also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Gaston over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Gaston in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Gaston
Sibling names for Gaston
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Gaston — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Gaston
What does the name Gaston mean?
Most likely "from Gascony," though a Germanic derivation meaning guest or stranger is also proposed.
Is Gaston ruined by Beauty and the Beast?
In English, largely — the 1991 Disney villain dominates the association. In France the name is reviving.
Is Gascony related to the Basques?
Yes. The Gascons take their name from the Vascones, the same people behind the Basques.
How popular is Gaston?
193rd in France, and rare everywhere else.
Is Gaston a girl's or a boy's name?
Gaston is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
How many syllables are in Gaston?
Gaston has 2 syllables.
Is Gaston a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Gaston currently ranks #193 in France. After peaking in the 1920s it fell out of use, and is now climbing again — a classic revival. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.