Cato
Cato was given to 45 boys in 2025, #2,803 among boys’ names; 675 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Cato by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Cato mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Cato is “a male given name from Latin.”
From Latin Cato. A cognomen made particularly famous by Cato the Elder and Younger, members of the gens Porcia.
/ˈkeɪ.toʊ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Cato?
#2,803 among boys’ names, 2025
Cato rose from #4,312 in 2015 to #2,803 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 12.0 to 26.3 per million.
45 babies in 2025, the peak
Cato peaked in 2025, when 45 boys were given it, #2,803 among boys’ names. In 2024 it went to 40 boys.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 45 | #2,803 | 26.3 |
| 2024 | 40 | #3,056 | 23.2 |
| 2023 | 23 | #4,476 | 13.4 |
| 2022 | 38 | #3,163 | 21.8 |
| 2021 | 37 | #3,189 | 21.1 |
| 2020 | 34 | #3,278 | 19.7 |
| 2019 | 27 | #3,906 | 15.0 |
| 2018 | 32 | #3,457 | 17.6 |
| 2017 | 21 | #4,616 | 11.3 |
| 2016 | 18 | #5,164 | 9.5 |
Every recorded year (57)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 23 | #4,312 | 12.0 |
| 2014 | 19 | #4,905 | 9.9 |
| 2013 | 15 | #5,704 | 7.9 |
| 2012 | 13 | #6,367 | 6.9 |
| 2011 | 8 | #8,882 | 4.2 |
| 2010 | 14 | #6,087 | 7.3 |
| 2009 | 9 | #8,407 | 4.5 |
| 2008 | 5 | #12,829 | 2.5 |
| 2007 | 6 | #11,135 | 2.9 |
| 2006 | 10 | #7,511 | 4.9 |
| 2004 | 9 | #7,615 | 4.5 |
| 2003 | 7 | #8,796 | 3.5 |
| 2002 | 7 | #8,584 | 3.6 |
| 2000 | 5 | #10,603 | 2.5 |
| 1995 | 6 | #7,941 | 3.2 |
| 1993 | 5 | #8,899 | 2.5 |
| 1989 | 7 | #6,305 | 3.5 |
| 1986 | 6 | #6,042 | 3.3 |
| 1980 | 5 | #6,383 | 2.8 |
| 1979 | 5 | #6,182 | 2.9 |
| 1978 | 7 | #4,620 | 4.3 |
| 1976 | 5 | #5,724 | 3.2 |
| 1968 | 6 | #3,740 | 3.5 |
| 1959 | 5 | #4,070 | 2.3 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,478 | 3.0 |
| 1950 | 5 | #3,768 | 2.8 |
| 1949 | 7 | #3,065 | 3.9 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,392 | 3.7 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,665 | 5.9 |
| 1941 | 8 | #2,687 | 6.5 |
| 1939 | 5 | #3,559 | 4.5 |
| 1938 | 5 | #3,598 | 4.5 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,613 | 5.6 |
| 1925 | 6 | #3,807 | 5.4 |
| 1923 | 7 | #3,516 | 6.4 |
| 1922 | 6 | #3,927 | 5.5 |
| 1921 | 10 | #2,836 | 9.1 |
| 1920 | 6 | #3,892 | 5.6 |
| 1919 | 7 | #3,453 | 7.1 |
| 1918 | 7 | #3,416 | 6.9 |
| 1917 | 11 | #2,447 | 11.9 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,227 | 7.9 |
| 1915 | 5 | #3,909 | 5.9 |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,544 | 11.7 |
| 1911 | 6 | #1,564 | 26.6 |
| 1891 | 8 | #715 | 79.1 |
| 1880 | 6 | #830 | 54.3 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Cato a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Cato has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 57 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Cato: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Cato, and how old are they?
An estimated 534 Americans named Cato and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (79% of everyone recorded); the median is 8 years old and half are between 4 and 16. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 453 people named Cato (20 women and girls, 433 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 337 born in the U.S. The Census count is 34% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 2,770 babies since 1880, Cato is the third most given (24% of them). In 2025 it was given to 45 of their 165 babies (27%), again the third most given.
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.
More about Cato and names like it
- Compare Cato and KaitoBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sCato peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Cato since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Cato: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Cato.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Cato alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with CMost given first.