Marykate
Feminine combination name blending Mary of Hebrew origin meaning "bitter" and Kate meaning "pure".
Name Census estimates that about 2,059 living Americans carry the first name Marykate. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Marykate today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Marykate births was 2001 (85 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Marykate. 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
2.1K
~ 1 in 166,466 Americans
Peak year
2001
85 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,521
Tracked since 1958
Popularity
Marykate: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Marykate from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 668 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
Marykate 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 Marykate during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Marykates live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Marykate, while Texas, Florida, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 88 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Marykate
The name Marykate is a relatively modern combination of the two classic names Mary and Kate. Mary is a Hebrew name that originated from the word "Miriam," meaning "bitter" or "beloved." It was a common name among Jews in ancient times and gained widespread popularity after the birth of Jesus Christ's mother, Mary.
Kate, on the other hand, is a diminutive form of the Greek name "Katharina," derived from the word "katharos," meaning "pure" or "clear." This name gained popularity in medieval Europe and has been a beloved name across various cultures for centuries.
While the combination of Mary and Kate into Marykate is a recent development, both names have rich historical roots. The name Mary has been found in religious texts and historical records dating back to ancient times, with notable figures like Mary Magdalene, a close follower of Jesus Christ, and Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587), the ill-fated monarch of Scotland.
Kate, too, has been borne by several notable women throughout history, including Kate Sheppard (1847-1934), a pioneering leader in the women's suffrage movement in New Zealand, and Kate Chopin (1850-1904), an influential American author known for her feminist works.
Some other famous individuals with the first name Mary or Kate include Mary Shelley (1797-1851), the author of the Gothic novel "Frankenstein," Kate Winslet (born 1975), the acclaimed British actress, and Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), an American painter known for her depictions of the social and private lives of women.
While the name Marykate itself may not have a long historical lineage, it carries the rich legacies of its component names, blending the reverence and endurance of Mary with the purity and strength of Kate.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Marykate
People
Marykate + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Marykate as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Marykate: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Marykate?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,059 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Marykate 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 166,466 US residents.
Is Marykate a common name?
We classify Marykate as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,145 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Marykate most popular?
The single biggest year for Marykate was 2001, when 85 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Marykate is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Marykate a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Marykate 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.