Cathryne vs Cathy
American parents have registered 170,646 Cathys since 1880, against 535 Cathrynes. Cathy is still ahead, with 12 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Cathryne Cathy
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 116 years in which either name was published, Cathy for 102 years and Cathryne for 14 years. The lead changed hands once.
Side by side
| Cathryne | Cathy | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 535 | 170,646 |
| Most in one year | 14 | 10,961 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 12 |
| Estimated living today | 290 | 141,000 |
| Median age today | 47 | 66 |
| Peak year | 1916 | 1958 |
| Best rank | 2,246th girls | 34th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 8,362nd |
| First recorded | 1907 | 1918 |
| Girls / boys | 535 / 0 | 170,303 / 343 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Cathys alive today are over 66; half the Cathrynes are over 47. That is 19 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Cathryne and Cathy.