How Many People Are Named Cate?
An estimated 1,754 people in the United States have the first name Cate. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 18 years old, and Cate peaked in popularity in 2008 with 152 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Cate as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Cate paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- Cate is a modern name. With an average bearer age of just 18, it has gained most of its popularity in recent years.
Estimated Living Americans
1,754
About 1 in 195,413 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Female
100.0% confidence
Average Age
18
years old
Peak Year
2008
152 births
Total Registered
1,778
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Cate
Cate is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 1,778 total births registered, 100.0% were female.
Cate as a female name
Ranked #5,034 in 2024
26 female births in 2024
Peak: 2008 (152 births)
Cate: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Cate span from the 1980s to the 2020s, covering 5 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 2000s, when 932 babies were registered. Cate has declined significantly from its peak in the 2000s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Cate by Decade
How has Cate tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Cate by State
Birth registrations for Cate span all 22 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, New York. The lowest are in Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma. On average, about 29 Cates were registered per state.
Cate + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Cate as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Cate
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
Cate: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cate?
We estimate approximately 1,754 people named Cate are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 195,413 Americans share this first name.
Is Cate a common name?
Cate is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 93.2% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 1,778 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Cate most popular?
Cate reached peak popularity in 2008, when 152 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Cate is approximately 18 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Cate a female name?
Cate is predominantly female. 100.0% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Cate Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Cate Smith, Cate Johnson, Cate Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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