Gage

Meaning of Gage

Deriving from the Anglo-Norman occupational surname that denoted a moneylender’s or broker’s “gage”—a pledged object offered as security—the given name Gage retains the semantic undertone of an oath or guarantee, its linguistic pedigree traceable through Middle English gage to Old French guage and ultimately to the Frankish root *waddi, “to pledge.” When transplanted to North America the surname shed its strictly professional meaning, and, beginning in the late twentieth century, it pivoted into use as a forename, a transition abetted by cultural signposts ranging from General Thomas Gage of Revolutionary-era history to the fictional Gage Creed in Stephen King’s 1983 novel Pet Sematary, as well as by the homophonous technical term “gauge,” which lends modern associations of precision and calibration. As the Social Security data indicate, this compact, monosyllabic appellation rose from statistical obscurity before 1990 to a zenith within the national top 150 names in 2009, thereafter stabilizing at a moderate frequency, a trajectory that mirrors its blended aura of historical gravitas and contemporary succinctness.

Pronunciation

American English

• Pronunced as GAYJ (/ɡeɪdʒ/)

• Jace
• Tate
• Blake
• Chase
• Cage