Cathey
A feminine name of uncertain meaning and origin, potentially related to "pure".
Name Census estimates that about 1,533 living Americans carry the first name Cathey. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cathey today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cathey births was 1953 (157 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cathey. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Cathey is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Catheys were born before 1967.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 223,584 Americans
Peak year
1953
157 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
1983 SSA rank
#10,500
Tracked since 1939
Census
Cathey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,897 people with the first name Cathey, which placed it at #7,849 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
#7,849
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,897 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cathey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cathey is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Black (12.3%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Cathey 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 Cathey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.7% · 1,530
- Black or African American12.3% · 233
- Two or more races3.2% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 19
Popularity
Cathey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cathey from the 1930s through to the 1980s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 1,200 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cathey 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 Cathey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Catheys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Cathey, while Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 68 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cathey
The name Cathey is an English variant of the French name Catherine, which is derived from the Greek name Aikaterine. The name Aikaterine is itself a combination of two Greek words, "katharos" meaning "pure" and "hekateros" meaning "each of the two." The name can be traced back to the early Christian era, around the 4th century AD.
Catherine was a popular name in medieval Europe, particularly in France and England, where it was often associated with royalty and nobility. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was St. Catherine of Alexandria, a 4th-century Christian martyr venerated by the Catholic Church.
The variant spelling Cathey emerged in the 16th and 17th centuries as an English diminutive form of Catherine. It was particularly common in regions with strong Scottish or Irish influence, where the name was often pronounced with a more distinctive "ey" sound at the end.
One notable historical figure with the name Cathey was Cathey Cathey, an English poet and playwright from the late 16th century. Her works, including the play "The Tragic History of Cathey and Lancelot," explored themes of love, loyalty, and the struggles of women in a patriarchal society.
Another notable bearer of the name was Cathey Partridge (1790-1872), an American pioneer and frontierwoman who helped establish settlements in the Ohio Valley region. She is remembered for her bravery and resilience in the face of the challenges of frontier life.
In the 19th century, Cathey Stanton (1815-1902) was an influential American suffragist and abolitionist, known for her activism in the women's rights movement and her advocacy for the abolition of slavery.
Cathey Catt (1859-1947) was another prominent American suffragist and leader of the women's suffrage movement in the early 20th century. She played a pivotal role in securing the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in the United States.
Cathey Byrne (1888-1959) was an Irish-American actress and singer who gained fame on the vaudeville stage and in early Hollywood films. She was known for her comedic talent and her versatility as a performer.
While the name Cathey has seen a decline in popularity in recent decades, it remains a unique and historically significant name with roots in various cultures and traditions.
People
Cathey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cathey 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
Cathey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cathey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,533 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cathey 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 223,584 US residents.
Is Cathey a common name?
We classify Cathey as "Rare". It ranks above 92.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,216 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cathey most popular?
The single biggest year for Cathey was 1953, when 157 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cathey is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cathey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,897 people with the name Cathey, or 0.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,849 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 Cathey 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 Cathey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cathey appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,898 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Cathey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cathey is White at 80.7%. The next largest groups are Black (12.3%) and Two or More Races (3.2%). 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 Cathey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cathey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.7% (1,530 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 Cathey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cathey a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cathey in the SSA data are female. 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 Cathey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cathey 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 Cathey 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 common is the name Cathey?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.