Cate
- Gender
- Girl
- Say it
- KAYT
- Origin
- Greek
- US rank, 2025
- #8,858 for girls
Cate is a girls' name of Greek origin, meaning “associated with katharos, pure”. In 2025 it ranked 8,858th for girls in the US (11 babies).
What does Cate mean?
Greek: spelling of Kate; short form of Katherine
“associated with katharos, pure”
Short form of Katherine; Kate is the heroine of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.
Meaning borrowed from Kate. More on Wiktionary.
Is Cate a girl's or a boy's name?
Cate is a girls' name. In 2025, it was given to 11 girls in the US. Too few boys were given it to be listed.
How popular is Cate in the UK?
No girls in the UK were given it in 2025, or too few to be listed. Its busiest year was 2003, with 23 girls.
Half of all the girls named Cate in the UK since 1996 were born between 2003 and 2009, the years shaded on the chart below.
Cate in the UK, year by year
| Year | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | #7,238 |
| 2019 | 0 | – |
| 2018 | 0 | – |
| 2017 | 2 | #7,588 |
| 2016 | 9 | #2,893 |
| 2015 | 1 | #7,629 |
| 2014 | 10 | #2,618 |
| 2013 | 2 | #7,600 |
| 2012 | 7 | #3,471 |
| 2011 | 10 | #2,582 |
| 2010 | 8 | #2,992 |
| 2009 | 14 | #1,957 |
| 2008 | 16 | #1,745 |
| 2007 | 20 | #1,421 |
| 2006 | 19 | #1,418 |
| 2005 | 23 | #1,172 |
| 2004 | 20 | #1,238 |
| 2003 | 23 | #1,087 |
| 2002 | 15 | #1,399 |
| 2001 | 12 | #1,637 |
| 2000 | 12 | #1,593 |
| 1999 | 5 | #2,912 |
| 1998 | 0 | – |
| 1997 | 0 | – |
| 1996 | 1 | #5,054 |
How popular is Cate in the US?
- Rank in 2025
- 8,858th among girls
- Babies in 2025
- 11 about 1 in 150,000 girls
- Five-year trend
- Falling down 43% in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 girls
In 2025, 11 girls in the US were named Cate, making it the 8,858th most popular name for girls. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 6,321st. Its busiest year was 2008, with 152 girls. It first appears in the records in 1980.
2025 had fewer girls named Cate than any year since 1998.
Half of all the girls named Cate in the US since 1880 were born between 2004 and 2013, the years shaded on the chart below.
In 2025, 587 girls in the US were given Cate or a name that sounds the same. With every name's spellings counted this way, that ranks #517, up from #8,858 for this spelling alone.
- Kate 576
- Cate 11
Cate in the US, year by year
| Year | Girls | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 11 | #8,858 |
| 2024 | 26 | #5,018 |
| 2023 | 17 | #6,675 |
| 2022 | 25 | #5,169 |
| 2021 | 23 | #5,394 |
| 2020 | 18 | #6,321 |
| 2019 | 30 | #4,545 |
| 2018 | 47 | #3,345 |
| 2017 | 39 | #3,847 |
| 2016 | 38 | #3,923 |
| 2015 | 59 | #2,927 |
| 2014 | 61 | #2,807 |
| 2013 | 61 | #2,803 |
| 2012 | 88 | #2,145 |
| 2011 | 95 | #2,043 |
| 2010 | 80 | #2,360 |
| 2009 | 115 | #1,848 |
| 2008 | 152 | #1,528 |
| 2007 | 118 | #1,804 |
| 2006 | 87 | #2,206 |
| 2005 | 118 | #1,680 |
| 2004 | 111 | #1,733 |
| 2003 | 82 | #2,122 |
| 2002 | 64 | #2,464 |
| 2001 | 41 | #3,312 |
| 2000 | 44 | #3,117 |
| 1999 | 38 | #3,310 |
| 1998 | 10 | #8,579 |
| 1997 | 0 | – |
| 1996 | 5 | #13,511 |
| 1995 | 8 | #9,548 |
| 1994 | 6 | #11,771 |
| 1993 | 5 | #13,435 |
| 1992 | 10 | #8,057 |
| 1991 | 5 | #13,139 |
| 1990 | 0 | – |
| 1989 | 5 | #12,356 |
| 1988 | 9 | #7,686 |
| 1987 | 9 | #7,348 |
| 1986 | 8 | #7,745 |
| 1985 | 8 | #7,560 |
| 1984 | 0 | – |
| 1983 | 0 | – |
| 1982 | 8 | #7,467 |
| 1981 | 0 | – |
| 1980 | 5 | #10,390 |
Nicknames for Cate
- Katie 132 girls in the UK in 2025
Names like Cate
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Chloe, Maeve, Zoe, Phoebe, Jasmine, Maisie, Caoimhe, Ellie, Grace, Sophie, Brooke, Niamh
Other spellings of Cate
Names related to Cate
More Greek names
Luca, Theodore, Sophia, George, Theo, Lucas, Sofia, Alexander, Sebastian, Penelope, Margot, Luke, Iris, Lainey, Elena, Atlas
Sources
Figures from Baby names in England and Wales (Office for National Statistics), Babies' first names (National Records of Scotland), Baby names (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) and Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Cate: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/cate, updated 20 October 2026.