Patsie
A feminine diminutive form of the name Patricia, derived from the Latin Patricius meaning "noble".
Name Census estimates that about 164 living Americans carry the first name Patsie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Patsie today is around 80 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Patsie births was 1940 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Patsie. 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 Patsie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Patsie is about 80 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Patsies were born before 1956.
People living today
164
~ 1 in 2,089,965 Americans
Peak year
1940
25 babies that year
Average age
80
years old
1960 SSA rank
#5,070
Tracked since 1898
Census
Patsie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 338 people with the first name Patsie, which placed it at #27,177 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
#27,177
National first-name rank
People counted
338
338 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Patsie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Patsie is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Black (24.9%) and Hispanic (3.3%). 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 Patsie 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 Patsie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.4% · 221
- Black or African American24.9% · 84
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 7
- Two or more races2.1% · 7
Popularity
Patsie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Patsie from the 1890s through to the 1960s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 162 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Patsie 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 Patsie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Patsies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, Kentucky, California recorded the most babies named Patsie, while California, Kentucky, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Patsie
The name Patsie is a diminutive form of the name Patricia, which is derived from the Latin name Patricius. Patricius itself comes from the Latin word "patricus," meaning "noble" or "patrician." The name Patricia was initially used in ancient Rome to denote a woman of noble or patrician birth.
Patsie first emerged as a pet form or nickname for Patricia in English-speaking countries, particularly in the British Isles and Ireland. It gained popularity as a standalone given name in the 19th and early 20th centuries, especially among working-class families who favored shortened versions of traditional names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Patsie can be found in the 1841 census records for England and Wales, where a few individuals were listed with this name. However, its usage remained relatively rare until the late 19th century.
Historically, the name Patsie has been associated with several notable individuals. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Patsie Byrne (1888-1964), an Irish actress and singer who performed on the vaudeville circuit in the early 20th century.
Another prominent figure with the name Patsie was Patsie Ruth Brown (1926-2015), an American singer and actress who was a pioneer of rhythm and blues music. She is best known for her hit songs "Honey Bun" and "All Night Long."
In the literary world, Patsie Deegan (1874-1950) was an Irish writer and journalist who wrote under the pen name "Maire Gonne Inghinidhe na hEireann." She was a prominent figure in the Irish literary revival movement of the early 20th century.
Patsie Pamela Mahe (1915-2003) was a British actress and singer who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout her career, including the popular sitcom "On the Buses."
Lastly, Patsie Byrne (1929-2021) was an Irish actress and television personality, best known for her role as Freda Fitterton in the long-running British soap opera "Emmerdale."
While the name Patsie has declined in popularity in recent decades, it remains a part of the rich tapestry of given names with a rich history rooted in ancient Rome and the British Isles.
People
Patsie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Patsie 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
Patsie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Patsie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 164 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Patsie 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 2,089,965 US residents.
Is Patsie a common name?
We classify Patsie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 560 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Patsie most popular?
The single biggest year for Patsie was 1940, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Patsie is about 80 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Patsie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 338 people with the name Patsie, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,177 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 Patsie 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 Patsie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Patsie appears almost entirely female. Of the 334 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Patsie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Patsie is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Black (24.9%) and Hispanic (3.3%). 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 Patsie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Patsie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.4% (221 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 Patsie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Patsie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Patsie 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 Patsie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Patsie 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 Patsie 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 Patsie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.