Cathern
A feminine variant of Katherine, meaning "pure" or "virgin" of Greek origin.
Name Census estimates that about 333 living Americans carry the first name Cathern. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Cathern today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cathern births was 1930 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cathern. 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 Cathern is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Catherns were born before 1967.
People living today
333
~ 1 in 1,029,292 Americans
Peak year
1930
29 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
1988 SSA rank
#12,099
Tracked since 1882
Census
Cathern in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 523 people with the first name Cathern, which placed it at #19,947 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#19,947
National first-name rank
People counted
523
523 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cathern
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cathern is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Black (8.8%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cathern described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cathern at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.2% · 430
- Black or African American8.8% · 46
- Two or more races3.8% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 4
Popularity
Cathern: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cathern from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 229 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cathern 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 Cathern during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Catherns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Cathern
The name Cathern has its origins in the ancient Celtic and Gaelic languages, tracing back to the early medieval period. It is derived from the Irish Gaelic name "Caithriona," which means "pure" or "virgin." This name was popular among the Celtic tribes of Ireland and Scotland during the 5th to 10th centuries AD.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Cathern can be found in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient Irish chronicle that dates back to the 15th century. The annals record the life of Saint Cathern of Leinster, an Irish nun and abbess who lived in the 7th century AD. She is revered as the patroness of the Ui Bairrche people of County Carlow.
During the Middle Ages, the name Cathern gained popularity across Europe, particularly in regions with strong Celtic cultural influences. In England, the name was often anglicized as "Catherine" or "Katherine," but the original Gaelic form, "Cathern," remained in use among Irish and Scottish communities.
Notable historical figures who bore the name Cathern include Cathern O'Toole, an Irish chieftain and Lord of Imaile in the 12th century. Another prominent figure was Cathern MacKinnon, a Scottish clan chief from the Isle of Skye, who lived in the 15th century and was renowned for her bravery during clan battles.
In the realm of literature, the name Cathern appears in the ancient Irish epic poem "The Cattle Raid of Cooley" (Tain Bo Cuailnge), where a character named Cathern is mentioned as a handmaiden to the legendary Queen Medb of Connacht.
Other notable Catherns throughout history include Cathern O'Byrne, an Irish noblewoman and heiress from County Wicklow in the 16th century, and Cathern Lamont, a Scottish poet and songwriter from the 17th century, known for her contributions to the literary tradition of the Scottish Highlands.
People
Cathern + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cathern 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
Cathern: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cathern?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 333 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cathern 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 1,029,292 US residents.
Is Cathern a common name?
We classify Cathern as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,080 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cathern most popular?
The single biggest year for Cathern was 1930, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cathern is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cathern in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 523 people with the name Cathern, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,947 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cathern in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cathern?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cathern appears almost entirely female. Of the 525 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cathern?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cathern is White at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Black (8.8%) and Two or More Races (3.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cathern most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cathern in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.2% (430 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Cathern in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cathern a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cathern 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 Cathern still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cathern 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 Cathern 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.
How many people have the name Cathern?
See how many Americans are named Cathern on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.