Pat
A diminutive of Patrick, derived from the Latin Patricius meaning "nobleman" or "patrician".
Name Census estimates that about 29,680 living Americans carry the first name Pat. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 60.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Pat today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Pat births was 1947 (2,543 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Pat. 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 Pat with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Pat sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • The typical person named Pat is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Pats were born before 1963.
- • Compared to the 1940s, recent registration numbers for Pat have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
30K
~ 1 in 11,548 Americans
Peak year
1947
2,543 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
2014 SSA rank
#12,649
Tracked since 1880
Census
Pat in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 40,778 people with the first name Pat, which placed it at #1,033 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
#1,033
National first-name rank
People counted
41K
40,778 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
13.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Pat
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pat is White at 84.0%. The next largest groups are Black (5.4%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Pat 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 Pat at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.0% · 34,247
- Black or African American5.4% · 2,222
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 1,875
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 1,420
- Two or more races1.7% · 711
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 303
Gender
Gender distribution for Pat
Pat is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 66,854 total registrations, 26,732 (40.0%) were male and 40,122 (60.0%) were female.
Pat as a male name
- Ranked #13,520 in 2014
- 5 male births in 2014
- Peak: 1960 (999 births)
Pat as a female name
- Ranked #12,649 in 1991
- 6 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1941 (1,900 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Pat on both sides of the split. Of the 40,768 people counted with this name, 16,492 were male (40.5%) and 24,276 were female (59.5%).
Popularity
Pat: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Pat from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 21,637 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Pat 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 Pat during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Pats live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Pat, while Maine, Alaska, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,257 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Pat
The name Pat has its origins in the Latin name Patricius, meaning "noble" or "patrician". This name was derived from the Latin word "patres", which referred to the aristocratic families of ancient Rome.
Pat emerged as a diminutive or shortened form of the name Patrick, which was popularized by Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Patrick lived in the 5th century AD and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. His name was derived from the Latin "Patricius", emphasizing his noble status.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Pat can be found in the 12th-century document "The Annals of Ulster", where it was mentioned in reference to a person named "Pádraig Ua Longáin". This Irish name was an anglicized version of the Latin "Patricius".
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Pat. One of the most famous was Pat Garrett, an American Old West lawman and sheriff (1850-1908) best known for his involvement in the pursuit and eventual killing of the outlaw Billy the Kid.
Another prominent figure was Pat Nixon (1912-1993), the wife of former US President Richard Nixon. She was known for her role as the First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974.
In the world of sports, Pat Summitt (1952-2016) was a legendary women's basketball coach at the University of Tennessee. She led the Lady Vols to eight NCAA championships and is considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport.
Pat Buchanan (born 1938) is an American political commentator, author, and former presidential candidate. He is known for his conservative views and has been a prominent figure in American politics for several decades.
Pat Sajak (born 1946) is an American television personality and the longtime host of the popular game show "Wheel of Fortune". He has been hosting the show since 1981 and has become a household name in the United States.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Pat
People
Pat + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Pat as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with P
Other first names starting with P with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Pat: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Pat?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 29,680 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Pat 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 11,548 US residents.
Is Pat a common name?
We classify Pat as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 66,854 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Pat most popular?
The single biggest year for Pat was 1947, when 2,543 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Pat is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Pat in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 40,778 people with the name Pat, or 13.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,033 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 Pat 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 Pat?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Pat on both sides of the split. Of the 40,768 people counted with this name, 16,492 were male (40.5%) and 24,276 were female (59.5%). 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 Pat?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Pat is White at 84.0%. The next largest groups are Black (5.4%) and Hispanic (4.6%). 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 Pat most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Pat in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.0% (34,247 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 Pat in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Pat a female name?
Yes, 60.0% of people registered as Pat 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 Pat still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Pat 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 Pat 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 common is the name Pat?
See how many people share the name Pat on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.