Kath
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "pure" or "noble".
Name Census estimates that about 28 living Americans carry the first name Kath. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kath today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kath births was 1960 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kath. 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 Kath is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Kaths were born before 1967.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kath. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
28
~ 1 in 12,241,226 Americans
Peak year
1960
10 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
1960 SSA rank
#4,309
Tracked since 1956
Census
Kath in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 309 people with the first name Kath, which placed it at #28,877 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
#28,877
National first-name rank
People counted
309
309 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kath
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kath is White at 81.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). 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 Kath 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 Kath at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.2% · 251
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.1% · 19
- Black or African American4.9% · 15
- Two or more races0.3% · 1
Popularity
Kath: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kath from the 1950s through to the 1960s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 28 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Kath remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kath 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 Kath 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 Kath
The name Kath originated from the Hebrew language and culture. It is a shortened form of the name Katherine, which itself is derived from the Greek name Aikaterine. The Greek name is a combination of the words "katharos" meaning "pure" and "heben" meaning "to burn".
Kath is believed to have been in use as early as the 4th century AD, when it first appeared in Christian texts and records. The name gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in European countries with strong Christian traditions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kath can be found in the writings of the 5th-century Christian scholar and philosopher, Boethius. He mentioned a woman named Kath in his celebrated work "The Consolation of Philosophy".
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Kath. One of the most famous was Kath Soutar (1900-1992), a Scottish writer and poet known for her works that depicted the lives of working-class people in Scotland.
Another notable Kath was Kath Williams (1909-1986), an English actress and comedian who appeared in numerous films and television shows during the mid-20th century. She was particularly known for her roles in the "Carry On" film series.
In the field of aviation, Kath Stinson (1891-1977) was a pioneering American aviator and stunt pilot. She became the fourth woman in the United States to earn a pilot's license in 1912 and went on to set several aviation records.
The name Kath also has religious significance, with Saint Kath of Siena (1347-1380) being a prominent figure in the Catholic Church. She was a philosopher, theologian, and author who was canonized in 1461 and named a Doctor of the Church in 1970.
Another historical figure named Kath was Kath Mansfield (1888-1923), a renowned New Zealand writer and essayist. She is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of the modern short story and is celebrated for her innovative use of stream-of-consciousness narratives.
People
Kath + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kath 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
Kath: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kath?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kath 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 12,241,226 US residents.
Is Kath a common name?
We classify Kath as "Very Rare". It ranks above 45.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 38 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kath most popular?
The single biggest year for Kath was 1960, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kath 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 Kath in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 309 people with the name Kath, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,877 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 Kath 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 Kath?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kath leans strongly female. 307 people counted with this name were female (96.8%), compared with 10 male bearers (3.2%). 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 Kath?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kath is White at 81.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%). 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 Kath most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kath in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.2% (251 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 Kath in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kath a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kath 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 Kath still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kath 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 Kath 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 Kath as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.