Cathi
Cathi was last recorded in 1990, when 5 babies were given it; 2,536 Americans have been recorded with it between 1942 and 1990 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,120 Americans named Cathi and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (84% of everyone recorded); the median is 65 years old and half are between 59 and 69.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cathi by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Cathi mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Cathi is “a 20th century spelling variant of Cathy, diminutive of the female given name Catherine.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Cathi?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #13,289, in 1990; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
162 babies in 1961, the peak
Cathi peaked in 1961, when 162 girls were given it, #826 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 5 | #13,289 | 2.6 |
| 1988 | 12 | #6,328 | 6.7 |
| 1987 | 9 | #7,456 | 5.2 |
| 1986 | 12 | #5,811 | 7.0 |
| 1985 | 5 | #10,905 | 2.9 |
| 1984 | 7 | #8,285 | 4.2 |
| 1983 | 11 | #5,875 | 6.6 |
| 1982 | 13 | #5,246 | 7.7 |
| 1981 | 14 | #5,006 | 8.4 |
| 1980 | 20 | #3,869 | 12.0 |
Every recorded year (48)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 22 | #3,554 | 13.7 |
| 1978 | 17 | #4,099 | 11.1 |
| 1977 | 16 | #4,256 | 10.4 |
| 1976 | 27 | #2,803 | 18.4 |
| 1975 | 13 | #4,623 | 8.9 |
| 1974 | 31 | #2,443 | 21.1 |
| 1973 | 28 | #2,577 | 19.2 |
| 1972 | 40 | #1,994 | 26.3 |
| 1971 | 46 | #1,881 | 27.6 |
| 1970 | 52 | #1,739 | 29.7 |
| 1969 | 62 | #1,501 | 36.8 |
| 1968 | 83 | #1,190 | 50.6 |
| 1967 | 45 | #1,705 | 27.3 |
| 1966 | 77 | #1,225 | 45.5 |
| 1965 | 75 | #1,243 | 42.5 |
| 1964 | 90 | #1,164 | 47.5 |
| 1963 | 108 | #1,028 | 56.0 |
| 1962 | 133 | #917 | 67.6 |
| 1961 | 162 | #826 | 80.3 |
| 1960 | 151 | #843 | 74.7 |
| 1959 | 158 | #815 | 78.1 |
| 1958 | 159 | #795 | 79.0 |
| 1957 | 135 | #877 | 66.0 |
| 1956 | 90 | #1,086 | 44.8 |
| 1955 | 64 | #1,261 | 32.7 |
| 1954 | 95 | #1,001 | 48.9 |
| 1953 | 81 | #1,070 | 43.1 |
| 1952 | 81 | #1,047 | 43.7 |
| 1951 | 48 | #1,339 | 26.7 |
| 1950 | 45 | #1,364 | 26.3 |
| 1949 | 37 | #1,512 | 21.6 |
| 1948 | 43 | #1,410 | 25.3 |
| 1947 | 43 | #1,416 | 24.3 |
| 1946 | 24 | #1,869 | 15.3 |
| 1945 | 10 | #2,941 | 7.7 |
| 1944 | 18 | #2,036 | 13.6 |
| 1943 | 12 | #2,721 | 8.6 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,796 | 5.2 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Cathi a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cathi has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 48 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Cathi: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cathi, and how old are they?
2,120 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 84% of the 2,536 Americans ever recorded as Cathi. The median Cathi alive today is 65 years old; half are between 59 and 69.
The 2020 Census counted 2,326 people named Cathi (2,326 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,244 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 25 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,410 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 600 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 85 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Cathi born?
The states with the most babies named Cathi are California, Ohio and New York, with 53% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 328 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Ohio | 125 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New York | 112 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 80 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 76 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Texas | 68 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Indiana | 57 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 53 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Florida | 33 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| New Jersey | 19 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Cathi is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Cathi is most over-represented in California: since 1942 it was given 1.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Cathi with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 542,535 babies since 1880, Cathi is the sixth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 83 babies recorded by SSA was a Cathi (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Cathi
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Cathi and names like it
- Compare Cathi and KathyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sCathi peaked in 1961.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cathi since 1910.
- The top names of 1961The year the most babies were named Cathi.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Cathi alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with CMost given first.