Cathy

Where Cathy comes from

The dictionaries list Cathy as a given name — a diminutive of the female given name Catherine and of its variant forms, also used as a formal given name in the 20th century — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1918
    First appearance
    #4,809 among girls, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1958
    Peak, #34
    10,942 babies named Cathy — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1960
    Cathy Moriarty born
    actress
  4. 1965
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #88.
  5. 1973
    Cathy Freeman born
    Australian short-distance runner
In the dictionary
  • A diminutive of the female given name Catherine and of its variant forms, also used as a formal given name in the 20th century.
Namesakes
  • Cathy Freeman · Australian short-distance runner, born 1973
  • Cathy Moriarty · actress, born 1960
  • Cathy Weseluck · Canadian actress, born 1970
  • Cathy O'Donnell · American actress, 1923–1970
  • Cathy Berberian · American mezzo-soprano and composer, 1925–1983

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.