Cayce
The prophetic maiden, a name derived from the French "casser".
Name Census estimates that about 1,656 living Americans carry the first name Cayce. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 65.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Cayce today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cayce births was 1987 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cayce. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Cayce with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 206,977 Americans
Peak year
1987
70 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,684
Tracked since 1935
Census
Cayce in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,527 people with the first name Cayce, which placed it at #9,207 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
#9,207
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,527 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cayce
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cayce is White at 84.0%. The next largest groups are Black (6.2%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Cayce 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 Cayce at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.0% · 1,283
- Black or African American6.2% · 94
- Two or more races4.4% · 67
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 53
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Cayce
Cayce is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,734 total registrations, 593 (34.2%) were male and 1,141 (65.8%) were female.
Cayce as a male name
- Ranked #5,684 in 2024
- 16 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (18 births)
Cayce as a female name
- Ranked #12,380 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1987 (55 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cayce on both sides of the split. Of the 1,528 people counted with this name, 486 were male (31.8%) and 1,042 were female (68.2%).
Popularity
Cayce: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cayce from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 499 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cayce 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 Cayce during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cayces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina recorded the most babies named Cayce, while Florida, California, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cayce
The name Cayce is a variant spelling of the ancient Greek name Kassios, which was derived from the Latin name Cassius. It is believed to have originated in the 1st century AD, during the Roman Empire. The name Cassius is thought to be derived from the Latin word "cassus," meaning "empty" or "vain."
In ancient Rome, the name Cassius was associated with the Roman family of the Cassii Longini. One of the most notable historical figures with this name was Gaius Cassius Longinus, a Roman senator and one of the leaders of the conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar in 44 BC.
The variant spelling Cayce is thought to have emerged in the medieval period, possibly as a result of scribal errors or regional pronunciations. One of the earliest recorded instances of this spelling can be found in the 12th century English text "The Life of Saint Edmund," where it is used to refer to a town called "Cays."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Cayce. One of the most famous was Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), an American mystic and psychic known as "The Sleeping Prophet." He gained a significant following for his ability to channel information while in a trance-like state, offering insights on topics ranging from reincarnation to healing.
Another notable figure was Cayce Maciel (1877-1948), a Brazilian poet and writer who was a key figure in the Modernist movement in Brazil. He is known for his works such as "Bréviaire des monstres" and "Poèmes pour l'être."
In the field of sports, Cayce Poindexter (born 1968) was an American professional basketball player who played in the NBA for teams such as the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics in the 1990s.
Cayce Giannopulos (born 1982) is a contemporary American singer-songwriter and musician who has released several albums and toured with various bands.
Finally, Cayce Zavaglia (born 1982) is an American artist and painter known for her large-scale, abstract works inspired by nature and the environment.
People
Cayce + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cayce 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
Cayce: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cayce?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,656 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cayce 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 206,977 US residents.
Is Cayce a common name?
We classify Cayce as "Rare". It ranks above 92.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,734 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cayce most popular?
The single biggest year for Cayce was 1987, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cayce is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cayce in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,527 people with the name Cayce, or 0.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,207 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 Cayce 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 Cayce?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Cayce on both sides of the split. Of the 1,528 people counted with this name, 486 were male (31.8%) and 1,042 were female (68.2%). 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 Cayce?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cayce is White at 84.0%. The next largest groups are Black (6.2%) and Two or More Races (4.4%). 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 Cayce most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cayce in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.0% (1,283 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 Cayce in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cayce a female name?
Yes, 65.8% of people registered as Cayce 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 Cayce still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cayce 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 Cayce 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 are called Cayce?
You can see how many people share the name Cayce on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.