Kassey
A feminine name of English origin meaning "brave voyager" or "brave explorer".
Name Census estimates that about 712 living Americans carry the first name Kassey. It is a predominantly female name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Kassey today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kassey births was 1992 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kassey. 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 Kassey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
712
~ 1 in 481,397 Americans
Peak year
1992
37 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
1990 SSA rank
#8,817
Tracked since 1978
Census
Kassey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 656 people with the first name Kassey, which placed it at #16,994 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
#16,994
National first-name rank
People counted
656
656 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kassey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kassey is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.2%) and Black (10.2%). 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 Kassey 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 Kassey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.9% · 426
- Hispanic or Latino17.2% · 113
- Black or African American10.2% · 67
- Two or more races3.7% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Kassey
Out of the 736 babies given the name Kassey since 1880, 99.3% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Kassey as a male name
- Ranked #8,817 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1990 (5 births)
Kassey as a female name
- Ranked #11,588 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1992 (37 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kassey leans strongly female. 597 people counted with this name were female (90.5%), compared with 63 male bearers (9.5%).
Popularity
Kassey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kassey 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 254 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
Kassey 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 Kassey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kasseys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kassey
The name Kassey has its origins in the Gaelic language, with roots dating back to ancient Celtic cultures. It is believed to be a variant of the name Cassie, which itself is a diminutive form of the name Catharine or Catherine. The name Catharine is derived from the Greek name Aikaterine, which means "pure" or "clear."
In its earliest form, Kassey was likely spelled as Caisí or Caisidh in Gaelic, and was commonly used in Ireland and Scotland during the Middle Ages. It was often associated with families of Celtic descent and was particularly popular among Irish and Scottish clans.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kassey can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history written in the 15th century. The annals mention a woman named Caisidh who lived in the late 12th century and was involved in a dispute over land ownership.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kassey or its variations. One such figure was Kassey O'Brien (c. 1560-1638), an Irish chieftain and leader of the O'Brien clan in County Clare during the Elizabethan era. Another notable Kassey was Kassey Douglas (1720-1795), a Scottish poet and playwright who wrote several works in Scots Gaelic.
In the 19th century, Kassey Macleod (1835-1912) was a prominent Scottish folk singer and collector of traditional ballads from the Hebrides Islands. Her work helped preserve many ancient Gaelic songs and oral traditions.
The name Kassey also appears in literary works, such as the novel "The White Phoenix" by John Buchan (1875-1940), where a character named Kassey MacNab plays a significant role.
Another notable figure with the name Kassey was Kassey Kincaid (1901-1987), an American actress and vaudeville performer who appeared in several Broadway productions during the 1920s and 1930s.
While the name Kassey has its roots in ancient Celtic cultures, it has evolved over time and has been adopted in various forms across different regions and cultures, reflecting the richness and diversity of naming traditions around the world.
People
Kassey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kassey as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kassey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kassey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 712 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kassey 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 481,397 US residents.
Is Kassey a common name?
We classify Kassey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 736 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kassey most popular?
The single biggest year for Kassey was 1992, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kassey is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kassey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 656 people with the name Kassey, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,994 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 Kassey 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 Kassey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kassey leans strongly female. 597 people counted with this name were female (90.5%), compared with 63 male bearers (9.5%). 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 Kassey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kassey is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.2%) and Black (10.2%). 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 Kassey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kassey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.9% (426 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 Kassey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kassey a female name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Kassey 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 Kassey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kassey 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 Kassey 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 share the name Kassey?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.