Gaitán
A Spanish surname most often linked to the place-name Gaitán, ultimately pointing to a family from that locality.
The #4,606 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 40,086 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Gaitán is a Spanish surname that is usually treated as locational, meaning it began as a name for someone from a place called Gaitán or a related locality. The deeper origin of the place-name is not entirely secure from general surname evidence alone, so the surname is best understood as referring to geographic origin rather than a clear word meaning. In Spanish-language use, the accent on the final syllable is standard: Gaitán.
History
The surname is found in Spanish-speaking regions and later spread widely through migration to the Americas. It is now especially visible in Latin American countries and in Hispanic communities in the United States. Because the name is relatively uncommon, individual family lines may have come from different local branches of the surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In written Spanish, the accent mark in Gaitán shows that the stress falls on the last syllable, not the first.