How common is the name Kathy?

288,053 people in the United States have the first name Kathy, about 1 in 1,049. It ranks #181 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

KATHY

#181

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
288,053
About
1 in 1,049
This common or more
39.8%
Who bears it

Of the 288,053 people named Kathy, 84.2% reported their origin as White, 5.5% as Black and 4.1% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Kathy peaked in 1958, when 23,983 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19102025
Peak year
1958
Births that year
23,983
In 2025*
48 ▼100%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 334,870 babies have been given the name since 1910. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Kathy by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1950s, when it ranked #50. The largest share of babies named Kathy, 76.2%, were born during the baby boom (1946–1964).

1910s#5,48557
1920s#3,508198
1930s#1,0831,254
1940s#17534,844
1950s#50158,226
1960s#78101,375
1970s#25922,794
1980s#6587,006
1990s#1,0494,312
2000s#1,5233,021
2010s#2,8461,381
2020s#4,613402
Greatest Generation 1901–270.1%
Silent Generation 1928–453.5%
Baby boom 1946–6476.2%
Generation X 1965–8015.8%
Millennials 1981–962.7%
Generation Z 1997–121.4%
2013 and later0.4%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Kathy is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Kathy has been most common in West Virginia (1.9×), Kentucky (1.7×), and Indiana (1.6×), and least common in Nevada (0.45×).

331,122 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Kathy, most common first.

Compare