girl's name
Kathy
KATH-ee
- Origin Greek
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 341,155
Northern Ireland
#406
1997 births
Kathy is a girl's name, the pet form of Katherine, and it inherits that name's genuinely unknown meaning. It belongs to the mid-century cohort that fell hardest — from 23,983 births in 1958 to 48.
- Kathy is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 1958, when 23,983 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 69,070 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1910.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Kathy over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1910s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1910s | 57 |
| 1920s | 198 |
| 1930s | 1,254 |
| 1940s | 34,844 |
| 1950s | 158,226 |
| 1960s | 101,375 |
| 1970s | 22,794 |
| 1980s | 7,006 |
| 1990s | 4,312 |
| 2000s | 3,021 |
| 2010s | 1,381 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 402 |
What Kathy means
Kathy has no securely known meaning, because Katherine does not. The reading pure was attached centuries after the name existed, through an association with a Greek word it does not derive from.
Where Kathy comes from
Kathy is clipped from Katherine, which descends from the Greek Aikaterine — a name whose origin is genuinely lost. Early Christian writers linked it to katharos, pure, and the spelling shifted to match, so the meaning everyone quotes is a folk etymology that changed how the name is written. Kathy belongs to the mid-century American habit of registering pet forms as full names, alongside Debbie, Cathy, Judy and Peggy, and it shares their curve exactly: a fast rise on sound rather than tradition, and a fall steeper than almost anything else we record.
Kathy in use
Kathy peaked in the United States in 1958, when 23,983 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 3262nd in the United States on 48 births and 6856th in England and Wales, across 341,155 lifetime births in two markets. It sits with Debra, Cathy, Peggy, Gail, Debbie, Cheryl, Rhonda and Tammy in the group of mid-century American girls' names whose falls are the steepest in our data — several of them, like this one, pet forms of much older names that survived while the pet form did not.
How popular is Kathy?
In 2025, Kathy was given to 48 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Kathy is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Kathy
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Kathy also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Kathy over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Kathy in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Kathy
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Kathy — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Kathy
What does the name Kathy mean?
Not securely known. It shortens Katherine, whose Greek original has no established derivation.
Is it Kathy or Cathy?
Both were used heavily in the same period, and both fell just as sharply.
Why did Kathy decline so much?
It fell from 23,983 births in 1958 to 48, sharing a curve with Debra, Debbie and Cheryl — pet forms that rose on sound and did not last.
How popular is Kathy?
3262nd in the United States on 48 births.
Is Kathy a girl's or a boy's name?
Kathy is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Kathy?
Kathy has 2 syllables.
Is Kathy a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Kathy currently ranks #3,262 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.