Cathie
A feminine diminutive form of the name Catherine, derived from the Greek "katharos" meaning "pure".
Name Census estimates that about 3,787 living Americans carry the first name Cathie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cathie today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cathie births was 1958 (277 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cathie. 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 Cathie is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Cathies were born before 1967.
People living today
3.8K
~ 1 in 90,508 Americans
Peak year
1958
277 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
1998 SSA rank
#12,728
Tracked since 1926
Census
Cathie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,850 people with the first name Cathie, which placed it at #4,006 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
#4,006
National first-name rank
People counted
4.8K
4,850 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cathie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cathie is White at 89.2%. The next largest groups are Black (4.5%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Cathie 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 Cathie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.2% · 4,326
- Black or African American4.5% · 219
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 117
- Two or more races1.9% · 90
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 29
Popularity
Cathie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cathie from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 2,504 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
Cathie 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 Cathie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cathies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. California, Ohio, Illinois recorded the most babies named Cathie, while Montana, Connecticut, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 98 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cathie
Cathie is a feminine given name, an English language variant of the name Catherine. The name Catherine derives from the Greek name Aikaterina, from the combination of the Greek words "katharos" meaning "pure" and "hagne" meaning "virginal, pure". This name became popular after it was borne by a semi-legendary 4th century saint and martyr, St. Catherine of Alexandria. The name rapidly spread across Europe and evolved into numerous spellings and forms in different cultures.
The variant "Cathie" emerged in English-speaking regions as a diminutive pet form or shortened version of Catherine. It was used as early as the 16th century in Scotland and England. The spelling "Cathie" distinguishes it from other variants like Cathy, Cathey, and Kathy. This form was particularly prevalent in the British Isles and later spread to other English-speaking nations.
One of the earliest known bearers of this name was Cathie Trotter, a Scottish woman born in 1588 in Stirlingshire. Historical records also mention Cathie Ogilvie, a woman from Aberdeen, Scotland who was accused of witchcraft in 1597.
Notable people named Cathie throughout history include Cathie Carruthers (1900-1964), a Scottish writer and poet; Cathie Merchant (1918-2008), an American singer and actress; Cathie Wright (1929-2018), a British Olympic swimmer; Cathie Pilkington (born 1939), a British counselor and activist; and Cathie Black (born 1944), an American business executive and author.
While not as common as some spellings like Cathy or Katherine, the name Cathie has held a modest presence over the centuries as a diminutive form of Catherine. Its roots in the ancient Greek name and ties to the venerated St. Catherine have contributed to its enduring usage across the English-speaking world.
People
Cathie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cathie 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
Cathie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cathie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,787 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cathie 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 90,508 US residents.
Is Cathie a common name?
We classify Cathie as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,586 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cathie most popular?
The single biggest year for Cathie was 1958, when 277 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cathie 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 Cathie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,850 people with the name Cathie, or 1.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,006 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 Cathie 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 Cathie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cathie appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,844 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Cathie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cathie is White at 89.2%. The next largest groups are Black (4.5%) and Hispanic (2.4%). 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 Cathie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cathie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.2% (4,326 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 Cathie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cathie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cathie 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 Cathie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cathie 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 Cathie 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 Cathie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.