Cappie
A feminine diminutive of the name Capricia, from the Latin capricia meaning "whim" or "caprice".
Name Census estimates that about 24 living Americans carry the first name Cappie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cappie today is around 71 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cappie births was 1955 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cappie. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Cappie is about 71 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Cappies were born before 1965.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Cappie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
24
~ 1 in 14,281,431 Americans
Peak year
1955
10 babies that year
Average age
71
years old
1960 SSA rank
#6,476
Tracked since 1883
Popularity
Cappie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cappie from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 26 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cappie by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cappie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cappie
The name Cappie is believed to have its origins in the English language, derived from the nickname "Cap" or "Capp," which was a shortened form of the name "Cappello." This name, in turn, traces its roots back to the Italian word "cappello," meaning "hat" or "cap." The earliest known uses of this name can be traced back to the late 16th century in England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cappie can be found in the parish records of St. Mary's Church in Nottingham, England, where a Cappie Wilkinson was baptized in 1593. Another notable early bearer of this name was Cappie Pattison, a merchant from Newcastle upon Tyne, who lived in the late 17th century.
In the realm of literature, the name Cappie appears in the works of the 19th-century English novelist Charles Dickens. One of the minor characters in his novel "The Pickwick Papers," published in 1836, is named Cappie Bantam.
Moving into the 20th century, one of the most famous individuals named Cappie was Cappie Ricks, an American vaudeville performer and actor born in 1903. He appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout the 1940s and 1950s.
Another noteworthy bearer of the name was Cappie Pondexter, an American professional basketball player born in 1983. She played in the WNBA for several teams, including the Phoenix Mercury and the New York Liberty, and was a member of the 2008 and 2012 Olympic gold medal-winning teams for the United States.
It is worth mentioning that while the name Cappie has its roots in English and Italian, it has also been used in other cultures and languages over time. For example, there have been individuals named Cappie in countries like Australia and South Africa, where the name likely gained popularity due to British colonial influence.
People
Cappie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cappie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cappie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cappie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cappie going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 14,281,431 US residents.
Is Cappie a common name?
We classify Cappie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 43% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 41 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cappie most popular?
The single biggest year for Cappie was 1955, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cappie is about 71 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cappie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cappie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cappie in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cappie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cappie in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cappie can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Cappie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.