Kathi
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "pure" or "chaste".
Name Census estimates that about 7,551 living Americans carry the first name Kathi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kathi today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kathi births was 1958 (825 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kathi. 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 Kathi is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Kathis were born before 1971.
People living today
7.6K
~ 1 in 45,392 Americans
Peak year
1958
825 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2001 SSA rank
#16,614
Tracked since 1938
Census
Kathi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,909 people with the first name Kathi, which placed it at #2,653 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
#2,653
National first-name rank
People counted
8.9K
8,909 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kathi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kathi is White at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Black (3.1%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Kathi 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 Kathi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.7% · 8,167
- Black or African American3.1% · 280
- Two or more races2.1% · 187
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 157
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 79
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 39
Popularity
Kathi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kathi from the 1930s through to the 2000s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 4,863 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
Kathi 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 Kathi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kathis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, New York, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kathi, while Wyoming, Vermont, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 170 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kathi
The name Kathi is a feminine given name that has its origins in the German language. It is a diminutive or nickname form of the name Katharina, which itself is derived from the ancient Greek name Aikaterine. The roots of this name can be traced back to the Greek words "katharos" (meaning pure) and "hekatos" (meaning each of two).
In the early Christian era, the name Katharina gained popularity due to its association with St. Catherine of Alexandria, a 4th-century Christian martyr who was known for her purity and wisdom. The name subsequently spread across Europe and took on various spellings and diminutive forms in different languages, including Kathi in German.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Kathi can be found in German literature from the 16th century. During this time, the name was commonly used in rural areas of Germany and Austria. It gained further recognition in the 19th century with the publication of the novel "Kathi, die Grosstante" by German author Wilhelmine von Hillern, which featured a character with this name.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kathi, including:
1. Kathi Naumann (1944-2022), a German actress and voice actress known for her work in films and television series.
2. Kathi Truempy (born 1973), a Swiss former professional tennis player who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 17 in the world.
3. Kathi Kellermann (1936-2017), an Austrian figure skater who competed in the 1956 and 1960 Winter Olympics.
4. Kathi Wohlfahrt (born 1946), a German former professional tennis player who won several titles on the Grand Prix circuit in the 1970s.
5. Kathi Rau (born 1938), a German actress and singer who has appeared in numerous films and stage productions.
While the name Kathi has its roots in German-speaking regions, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in countries with significant German or Austrian cultural influences.
People
Kathi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kathi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kathi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kathi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,551 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kathi 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 45,392 US residents.
Is Kathi a common name?
We classify Kathi as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,109 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kathi most popular?
The single biggest year for Kathi was 1958, when 825 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kathi is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kathi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,909 people with the name Kathi, or 2.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,653 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 Kathi 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 Kathi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kathi appears almost entirely female. Of the 8,917 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 Kathi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kathi is White at 91.7%. The next largest groups are Black (3.1%) and Two or More Races (2.1%). 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 Kathi most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kathi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.7% (8,167 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 Kathi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kathi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kathi 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 Kathi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kathi 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 Kathi 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 Kathi?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Kathi at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.