Patti
A feminine name derived from Patricia, meaning "noble, patrician".
Name Census estimates that about 31,542 living Americans carry the first name Patti. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Patti today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Patti births was 1958 (3,121 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Patti. 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 Patti with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Patti is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Pattis were born before 1969.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Patti have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
32K
~ 1 in 10,867 Americans
Peak year
1958
3,121 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
1971 SSA rank
#5,458
Tracked since 1888
Census
Patti in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 36,540 people with the first name Patti, which placed it at #1,120 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
#1,120
National first-name rank
People counted
37K
36,540 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
12.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
92.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Patti
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Patti is White at 92.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.0%) and Hispanic (1.8%). 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 Patti 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 Patti at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.8% · 33,923
- Two or more races2.0% · 745
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 652
- Black or African American1.5% · 559
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 430
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 231
Gender
Gender distribution for Patti
Out of the 44,751 babies given the name Patti since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Patti as a male name
- Ranked #5,458 in 1971
- 5 male births in 1971
- Peak: 1960 (7 births)
Patti as a female name
- Ranked #13,460 in 2018
- 7 female births in 2018
- Peak: 1958 (3,115 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Patti appears almost entirely female. Of the 36,543 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Patti: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Patti from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 20,627 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
Patti 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 Patti during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pattis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Patti, while Alaska, Nevada, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 823 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Patti
Patti is a given name with its origins rooted in the Latin language. It is considered a feminine diminutive form of the name Patricia, which itself derives from the Latin word "patrician," meaning "noble" or "aristocratic." The name Patti is believed to have emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century.
In its early days, the name Patti was primarily used in Italy and other regions with strong Roman influence. As the name spread across Europe, it underwent various spelling variations, such as Patty, Pattie, and Patti. The variations arose due to regional dialects and language adaptations.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Patti can be found in the writings of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who lived from 1265 to 1321. In his famous work, the Divine Comedy, he mentions a character named Patti, though the context suggests it may have been a surname rather than a given name.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Patti. One of the most renowned is Patti Smith, an American singer-songwriter, poet, and visual artist born in 1946. She is widely regarded as the "Godmother of Punk" and has significantly influenced the punk rock movement.
Another notable figure is Patti LuPone, an American actress and singer born in 1949. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner and has received numerous accolades for her performances on Broadway, including two Tony Awards.
In the realm of literature, Patti Callahan Henry is an acclaimed American novelist born in 1972. She is known for her bestselling novels that explore themes of family, relationships, and the complexities of human emotions.
Patti Davis, born in 1952, is the daughter of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy Reagan. She is an author and activist who has written several books, including memoirs and novels.
Lastly, Patti Scialfa is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist born in 1953. She is best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and has also released several solo albums.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have carried the name Patti, each leaving their mark in various fields, from music and literature to activism and politics.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Patti
People
Patti + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Patti as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Patti: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Patti?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 31,542 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Patti 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 10,867 US residents.
Is Patti a common name?
We classify Patti as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 44,751 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Patti most popular?
The single biggest year for Patti was 1958, when 3,121 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Patti is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Patti in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 36,540 people with the name Patti, or 12.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,120 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 Patti 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 Patti?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Patti appears almost entirely female. Of the 36,543 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Patti?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Patti is White at 92.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.0%) and Hispanic (1.8%). 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 Patti most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Patti in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.8% (33,923 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 Patti in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Patti a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Patti 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 Patti still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Patti 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 Patti 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 Patti?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.