Cassady
A masculine name of English origin potentially meaning "curly-haired" or "shaggy."
Name Census estimates that about 1,135 living Americans carry the first name Cassady. It is a predominantly female name (92.5% of registrations). The average person named Cassady today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cassady births was 1995 (74 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cassady. 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.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 301,986 Americans
Peak year
1995
74 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2002 SSA rank
#8,588
Tracked since 1977
Gender
Gender distribution for Cassady
Cassady leans heavily female at 92.5% of total registrations, but 87 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Cassady as a male name
- Ranked #8,588 in 2002
- 7 male births in 2002
- Peak: 1995 (11 births)
Cassady as a female name
- Ranked #13,769 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1999 (67 births)
Popularity
Cassady: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cassady from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 497 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cassady 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 Cassady during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cassadys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Ohio, California, Alabama recorded the most babies named Cassady, while Virginia, Oklahoma, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cassady
The given name Cassady is a variant spelling of the Irish name Cassidy, which is derived from the ancient Irish Gaelic name "O'Caiside". The prefix "O'" denotes "grandson of" or "descendant of", while "Caiside" likely originated from the Irish word "cáis" meaning "brave" or "defiant".
The name Cassady traces its roots back to medieval Ireland, where it was commonly found among Irish clans and families, particularly in the regions of Connacht and Ulster. Historical records suggest that the name may have been associated with warriors or chieftains who displayed acts of bravery and defiance.
One of the earliest documented references to the name Cassady can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. In the annals, the name appears as "O'Caiside" in entries dating back to the 14th century, indicating its long-standing presence in Irish culture.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Cassady. One of the earliest recorded figures was Tadhg O'Caiside, an Irish chieftain who lived in the 15th century and played a role in regional conflicts during that time.
In the 16th century, Seán O'Caiside was a prominent Irish poet and scholar, known for his contributions to the preservation of Irish literature and language.
During the 19th century, Neal Cassady (1926-1968) was an American icon of the Beat Generation literary movement. His spontaneous and unconventional lifestyle influenced writers like Jack Kerouac, who immortalized him as the character Dean Moriarty in the novel "On the Road".
Another notable figure was John Joseph Cassady (1860-1944), an Irish-American prelate who served as the Bishop of Fall River, Massachusetts, from 1904 to 1944.
In the world of sports, Curt Cassady (1923-2009) was an American football player and coach, best known for his tenure as the head coach of the Detroit Lions in the National Football League (NFL) during the late 1960s.
People
Cassady + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cassady 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
Cassady: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cassady?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,135 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cassady 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 301,986 US residents.
Is Cassady a common name?
We classify Cassady as "Rare". It ranks above 90.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,167 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cassady most popular?
The single biggest year for Cassady was 1995, when 74 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cassady is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Cassady a female name?
Yes, 92.5% of people registered as Cassady 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.
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.