Caine
A traditional masculine name originating from Hebrew with origins in the biblical Cain.
Name Census estimates that about 2,013 living Americans carry the first name Caine. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Caine today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caine births was 2008 (89 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caine. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Caine with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 170,270 Americans
Peak year
2008
89 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,258
Tracked since 1968
Census
Caine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,486 people with the first name Caine, which placed it at #9,371 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,371
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,486 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caine is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.6%) and Black (11.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Caine described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Caine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.4% · 928
- Hispanic or Latino13.6% · 202
- Black or African American11.4% · 170
- Two or more races8.0% · 119
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 30
Popularity
Caine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caine from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 583 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Caine remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caine by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Caine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Caine, while Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caine
The name Caine has its origins in the Biblical story of Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve. It is derived from the Hebrew word "qanah", meaning "to acquire" or "to possess". The name has been used for centuries, appearing in various forms and spellings across different cultures.
In ancient Hebrew texts, Cain is portrayed as a farmer who became the first murderer after killing his brother Abel out of jealousy. The story of Cain and Abel is found in the Book of Genesis and is considered one of the most significant narratives in Judeo-Christian tradition.
The name Caine gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in England and other parts of Europe. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name is Caine de Caen, a Norman nobleman who lived in the 11th century and fought alongside William the Conqueror during the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Caine. In the 17th century, Caine Scudamore (1609-1668) was an English landowner and politician who served as a member of the Long Parliament during the English Civil War. Sir Caine Rainsford (1610-1684) was an English diplomat and historian who served as the envoy to Constantinople during the reign of King Charles II.
In the literary world, Caine was the pen name of the British author Thomas Henry Hall Caine (1853-1931), who wrote several popular novels, including "The Manxman" and "The Eternal City". He was also a prominent figure in the Manx cultural revival movement.
Another famous bearer of the name was Caine Mutiny, an American naval officer who served in World War II and whose court-martial trial for mutiny inspired the 1951 novel "The Caine Mutiny" by Herman Wouk. The novel was later adapted into a critically acclaimed film starring Humphrey Bogart.
In the world of sports, Caine Eckstein (born 1976) is a former American football player who had a successful career in the National Football League, playing as a running back for several teams, including the Buffalo Bills and the New Orleans Saints.
People
Caine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caine as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Caine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,013 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caine going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 170,270 US residents.
Is Caine a common name?
We classify Caine as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,050 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caine most popular?
The single biggest year for Caine was 2008, when 89 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caine is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,486 people with the name Caine, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,371 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Caine in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Caine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caine leans strongly male. 1,475 people counted with this name were male (99.0%), compared with 15 female bearers (1.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Caine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caine is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.6%) and Black (11.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Caine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.4% (928 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Caine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caine a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caine in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Caine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caine in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Caine can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Caine?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.