Cash
Middle English word meaning "money" or "currency".
Name Census estimates that about 26,176 living Americans carry the first name Cash. It sits at #316 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Cash today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cash births was 2013 (1,491 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cash. 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 Cash with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Cash is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 127 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Cash is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
26K
~ 1 in 13,094 Americans
Peak year
2013
1,491 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#316
Tracked since 1885
Census
Cash in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 19,367 people with the first name Cash, which placed it at #1,632 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
#1,632
National first-name rank
People counted
19K
19,367 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cash
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cash is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.9%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Cash 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 Cash at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.9% · 15,085
- Hispanic or Latino9.9% · 1,927
- Two or more races6.0% · 1,161
- Black or African American4.2% · 813
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 235
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 146
Gender
Gender distribution for Cash
Out of the 26,639 babies given the name Cash since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Cash as a male name
- Ranked #316 in 2024
- 1,085 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (1,483 births)
Cash as a female name
- Ranked #9,649 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cash appears almost entirely male. Of the 19,369 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Cash: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cash from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 13,456 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Cash remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cash 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 Cash during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cashs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Cash, while Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 504 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cash
The name Cash is an English name derived from the Old French word "casse," which means a case or a coffer for storing money or valuables. This term ultimately traces its roots back to the Late Latin word "capsa," meaning a box or container.
The earliest recorded use of Cash as a given name dates back to the late 16th century in England. It was likely initially used as a nickname or surname for individuals involved in financial or monetary professions, such as tax collectors, bankers, or money lenders.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Cash was Sir William Cash (1592-1673), an English landowner and Member of Parliament during the English Civil War. He was a staunch Royalist and supported King Charles I against the Parliamentarian forces led by Oliver Cromwell.
Another notable figure was John Cash (1715-1778), an American colonial leader and politician from Virginia. He served as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and was a delegate to the Virginia Conventions of 1775 and 1776, which helped pave the way for American independence.
In the 19th century, one of the most famous individuals with the name Cash was Johnny Cash (1932-2003), the iconic American singer-songwriter and musician. Known as the "Man in Black," he was a defining figure in country music and is recognized as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.
Another prominent figure was James Cash Penney (1875-1971), the American businessman and entrepreneur who founded the renowned J.C. Penney department store chain. His company, initially called the Golden Rule Store, grew to become one of the largest retailers in the United States.
In the field of literature, Wilbur Joseph Cash (1900-1941) was an American writer and historian best known for his influential work "The Mind of the South," a seminal study of the Southern culture and psyche published in 1941.
While the name Cash is not as common as some other English names, it has a long and varied history, with notable figures spanning politics, business, music, and literature. Its origins as a term associated with money and value have contributed to its enduring appeal and significance.
People
Cash + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cash 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
Cash: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cash?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26,176 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cash 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 13,094 US residents.
Is Cash a common name?
We classify Cash as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 26,639 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cash most popular?
The single biggest year for Cash was 2013, when 1,491 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cash is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cash in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 19,367 people with the name Cash, or 6.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,632 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 Cash 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 Cash?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cash appears almost entirely male. Of the 19,369 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Cash?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cash is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (9.9%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Cash most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cash in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.9% (15,085 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 Cash in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cash a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Cash 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 Cash still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cash 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 Cash 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 are named Cash?
Find out how many people have the name Cash on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.