Patsy
Patsy was given to 20 girls in 2025, #6,058 among girls’ names; 127,161 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 58,600 Americans named Patsy and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (46% of everyone recorded); the median is 78 years old and half are between 70 and 84.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Patsy by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Patsy mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Patsy is “a diminutive of the female given name Patricia.”
Also “a diminutive of the male given name Patrick.”
From the clipping of Patricia or Patrick + -sy (hypocoristic suffix).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Patsy?
#6,058 among girls’ names, 2025
Patsy rose from #7,521 in 2015 to #6,058 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 9.0 to 12.4 per million.
4,868 babies in 1941, the peak
Patsy peaked in 1941, when 4,868 babies were given it (4,788 girls, #52 among girls’ names). The 20 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 20 | #6,058 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 17 | #6,860 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 18 | #6,604 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 17 | #6,919 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 20 | #6,115 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 17 | #6,853 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 11 | #9,585 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 11 | #9,659 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 15 | #7,749 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 16 | #7,516 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #7,521 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 17 | #7,227 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 13 | #8,930 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 22 | #6,064 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 12 | #9,583 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 17 | #7,429 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 17 | #7,604 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 21 | #6,508 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 14 | #8,887 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 24 | #5,665 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 25 | #5,215 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 13 | #8,598 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 46 | #3,217 | 0.03 |
| 2002 | 30 | #4,249 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 37 | #3,613 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 30 | #4,145 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 41 | #3,173 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 47 | #2,831 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 44 | #2,809 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 56 | #2,361 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 55 | #2,381 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 78 | #1,829 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 78 | #1,846 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 78 | #1,837 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 103 | #1,506 | 0.05 |
| 1990 | 110 | #1,432 | 0.06 |
| 1989 | 96 | #1,499 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 102 | #1,389 | 0.06 |
| 1987 | 83 | #1,541 | 0.05 |
| 1986 | 82 | #1,512 | 0.05 |
| 1985 | 81 | #1,515 | 0.05 |
| 1984 | 67 | #1,651 | 0.04 |
| 1983 | 79 | #1,469 | 0.05 |
| 1982 | 76 | #1,561 | 0.04 |
| 1981 | 94 | #1,335 | 0.06 |
| 1980 | 85 | #1,444 | 0.05 |
| 1979 | 96 | #1,310 | 0.06 |
| 1978 | 100 | #1,247 | 0.07 |
| 1977 | 96 | #1,254 | 0.06 |
| 1976 | 122 | #1,024 | 0.08 |
| 1975 | 143 | #912 | 0.10 |
| 1974 | 186 | #756 | 0.13 |
| 1973 | 203 | #717 | 0.14 |
| 1972 | 214 | #688 | 0.14 |
| 1971 | 264 | #630 | 0.16 |
| 1970 | 322 | #565 | 0.18 |
| 1969 | 295 | #575 | 0.17 |
| 1968 | 367 | #507 | 0.22 |
| 1967 | 452 | #444 | 0.27 |
| 1966 | 497 | #421 | 0.29 |
| 1965 | 576 | #384 | 0.33 |
| 1964 | 817 | #335 | 0.43 |
| 1963 | 892 | #312 | 0.46 |
| 1962 | 898 | #313 | 0.46 |
| 1961 | 1,019 | #291 | 0.50 |
| 1960 | 1,106 | #270 | 0.55 |
| 1959 | 1,329 | #238 | 0.66 |
| 1958 | 1,453 | #215 | 0.72 |
| 1957 | 1,609 | #208 | 0.79 |
| 1956 | 1,799 | #192 | 0.90 |
| 1955 | 2,013 | #172 | 1.0 |
| 1954 | 2,279 | #155 | 1.2 |
| 1953 | 2,591 | #141 | 1.4 |
| 1952 | 2,826 | #128 | 1.5 |
| 1951 | 2,905 | #121 | 1.6 |
| 1950 | 2,930 | #117 | 1.7 |
| 1949 | 3,347 | #106 | 2.0 |
| 1948 | 3,714 | #98 | 2.2 |
| 1947 | 4,344 | #87 | 2.5 |
| 1946 | 4,017 | #85 | 2.6 |
| 1945 | 3,350 | #84 | 2.6 |
| 1944 | 3,729 | #72 | 2.8 |
| 1943 | 4,355 | #61 | 3.1 |
| 1942 | 4,559 | #57 | 3.4 |
| 1941 | 4,788 | #52 | 4.0 |
| 1940 | 4,079 | #57 | 3.6 |
| 1939 | 4,111 | #56 | 3.7 |
| 1938 | 4,260 | #55 | 3.9 |
| 1937 | 4,243 | #54 | 4.0 |
| 1936 | 4,196 | #52 | 4.0 |
| 1935 | 3,797 | #56 | 3.6 |
| 1934 | 3,750 | #59 | 3.6 |
| 1933 | 3,451 | #65 | 3.4 |
| 1932 | 3,254 | #77 | 3.0 |
| 1931 | 2,869 | #83 | 2.7 |
| 1930 | 2,544 | #97 | 2.3 |
| 1929 | 2,042 | #118 | 1.8 |
| 1928 | 1,623 | #145 | 1.4 |
| 1927 | 1,302 | #168 | 1.1 |
| 1926 | 993 | #198 | 0.84 |
| 1925 | 706 | #250 | 0.58 |
| 1924 | 520 | #293 | 0.42 |
| 1923 | 334 | #364 | 0.28 |
| 1922 | 277 | #398 | 0.23 |
| 1921 | 236 | #450 | 0.19 |
| 1920 | 195 | #493 | 0.16 |
| 1919 | 168 | #529 | 0.15 |
| 1918 | 177 | #520 | 0.15 |
| 1917 | 191 | #471 | 0.18 |
| 1916 | 125 | #603 | 0.12 |
| 1915 | 128 | #573 | 0.13 |
| 1914 | 94 | #588 | 0.12 |
| 1913 | 83 | #566 | 0.13 |
| 1912 | 99 | #481 | 0.18 |
| 1911 | 68 | #506 | 0.16 |
| 1910 | 73 | #470 | 0.18 |
| 1909 | 50 | #538 | 0.14 |
| 1908 | 50 | #518 | 0.15 |
| 1907 | 40 | #585 | 0.13 |
| 1906 | 41 | #553 | 0.14 |
| 1905 | 41 | #543 | 0.14 |
| 1904 | 31 | #623 | 0.11 |
| 1903 | 20 | #785 | 0.08 |
| 1902 | 34 | #567 | 0.13 |
| 1901 | 29 | #588 | 0.12 |
| 1900 | 49 | #487 | 0.16 |
| 1899 | 21 | #697 | 0.09 |
| 1898 | 32 | #578 | 0.12 |
| 1897 | 22 | #673 | 0.09 |
| 1896 | 23 | #669 | 0.10 |
| 1895 | 21 | #698 | 0.09 |
| 1894 | 31 | #524 | 0.14 |
| 1893 | 22 | #624 | 0.10 |
| 1892 | 20 | #660 | 0.09 |
| 1891 | 22 | #570 | 0.12 |
| 1890 | 15 | #714 | 0.08 |
| 1889 | 25 | #508 | 0.14 |
| 1888 | 22 | #543 | 0.12 |
| 1887 | 20 | #507 | 0.14 |
| 1886 | 20 | #504 | 0.14 |
| 1885 | 21 | #466 | 0.16 |
| 1884 | 21 | #446 | 0.16 |
| 1883 | 20 | #433 | 0.18 |
| 1882 | 17 | #454 | 0.16 |
| 1881 | 12 | #498 | 0.13 |
| 1880 | 15 | #446 | 0.16 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Patsy a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 127,161 Americans recorded as Patsy, 94% are girls and 6% boys. Girls have outnumbered boys among babies named Patsy every year since 1923. In 2025 it went to 20 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Patsy: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Patsy, and how old are they?
58,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 46% of the 127,161 Americans ever recorded as Patsy. The median Patsy alive today is 78 years old; half are between 70 and 84.
The 2020 Census counted 62,123 people named Patsy (61,096 women and girls, 1,027 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 74,818 born in the U.S. The Census count is 17% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 21,400 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 31,300 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,840 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,330 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 435 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 207 |
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 Patsy born?
The states with the most babies named Patsy are Texas, Tennessee and North Carolina, with 27% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Tennessee is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 18,560 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| Tennessee | 7,141 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| North Carolina | 6,937 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Oklahoma | 6,054 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Arkansas | 6,014 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| Kentucky | 5,040 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Georgia | 4,821 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| California | 4,542 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Alabama | 4,473 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Missouri | 4,393 | not ranked | 1.3× |
Where Patsy is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Patsy is most over-represented in Arkansas: since 1910 it was given 2.9 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 Patsy 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 128,441 babies since 1880, Patsy is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 20 of their 20 babies (100%), again the 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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Patsy
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 Patsy and names like it
- Compare Patsy and PatsieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sPatsy peaked in 1941.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Patsy since 1910.
- The top names of 1941The year the most babies were named Patsy.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Patsy alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with PMost given first.