Girls' name · peaked in 1958
Cathy name popularity since 1925
170,595 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Cathy. Half of them were born in 1958 or earlier, so the typical Cathy is about 68 years old in 2026. Cathy peaked in 1958 as the #34 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 170,595
- Named Cathy, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #8,463 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.8% girls
- 170,252 girls · 343 boys
- Most popular in
- West Virginia
- 1.91× its national share
Peak year is the year Cathy made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Cathy births per year, 1925–2025
1958 was the biggest year for Cathy both by count and as a share of all babies.
- Fastest rise: Between 1944 and 1949, Cathy became 5× more common, from 1 in 1,950 baby girls to 1 in 388.
- Steepest fall: Between 1971 and 1976, its share of baby girls fell by 60%, from 1 in 733 to 1 in 1,810.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Cathy's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Cathy.
Decade by decade
Babies named Cathy in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 80 | 0 | – |
| 1930s | 578 | 0 | #893 |
| 1940s | 15,550 | 44 | #231 |
| 1950s | 82,719 | 140 | #44 |
| 1960s | 51,624 | 129 | #88 |
| 1970s | 12,943 | 30 | #252 |
| 1980s | 3,662 | 0 | #548 |
| 1990s | 1,565 | 0 | #1,217 |
| 2000s | 916 | 0 | #2,016 |
| 2010s | 484 | 0 | #2,749 |
| 2020–25 | 131 | 0 | #8,463 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
77.2% of babies named Cathy from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Cathy is most popular
The index compares Cathy's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Cathy.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| West Virginia | 1.91× | 2,839 |
| Indiana | 1.69× | 6,759 |
| Ohio | 1.44× | 11,203 |
| Maine | 1.41× | 1,023 |
| Alabama | 1.40× | 4,184 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Cathy and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Cathy (this page) | 170,252 | 1958 |
| Kathy | 334,007 | 1958 |
| Cathie | 5,586 | 1951 |
| Cathi | 2,536 | 1961 |
| Cathey | 2,216 | 1953 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Cathy's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Cathy.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Cathy (1958).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data