Cate

femaleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Cate: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Cate: Recorded since 1999, it reached #316 in 2004, and it was last ranked in 2017.

3registrars recorded it
31times a registrar ranked it
19years from first to last
#316highest recorded position
7groupings it qualifies for

Region

Falling

among girls in England and Wales · 1999–2016

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1999	#2770
2000	#1475
2001	#1520
2002	#1530
2003	#1269
2004	#1459
2005	#1165
2006	#1502
2007	#1741
2008	#1815
2009	#2326
2010	#3533
2011	#2636
2012	#4171
2014	#2659
2016	#4096

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

FallingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among girls in England and Wales in 16 of the 18 years from 1999 to 2016.

In 2016: #440 among girls in Northern Ireland, #750 among girls in Republic of Ireland, #4096 among girls in England and Wales.

Official data from 3 national registrars across 3 regions, 1999–2017 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1999
First recorded at #2770 among girls in England and Wales in 1999 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Girls
Highest recorded2004–2016
Highest recorded position: #316 among girls in Northern Ireland, in 2004 (recorded 2004–2016).
Northern Ireland · Girls
Most recent2017
Most recently recorded at #873 among girls in Republic of Ireland, in 2017.
Republic of Ireland · Girls

Cate appears in 3 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Girls, which has ranked it in 16 years beginning in 1999, and has registered 182 births with the name.

Cate across 3 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Cate's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Girls	#2770 (1999)	#1165 (2005)	#4096 (2016)	16 of 18	182 (1999–2016)	21 (2005)
Republic of Ireland · Girls	#374 (2002)	#374 (2002)	#873 (2017)	13 of 16	66 (2002–2017)	9 (2010)
Northern Ireland · Girls	#316 (2004)	#316 (2004)	#440 (2016)	2 of 13	7 (2004–2016)	4 (2004)

Cate by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Cate in England and Wales · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	5	1 of 10	5
2000sbusiest	143	10 of 10	14
2010s	34	5 of 10	7

Across England and Wales · Girls, the 2000s were its busiest decade, averaging 14 births a year.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Cate appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1999 to 2017. Highest recorded position: #316 in Northern Ireland in 2004.

Cate's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2016	England and Wales	female	#4096	5	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	female	#2659	9	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	female	#4171	5	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	female	#2636	9	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	female	#3533	6	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	female	#2326	10	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	female	#1815	14	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	female	#1741	14	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	female	#1502	16	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	female	#1165	21	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	female	#1459	15	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	female	#1269	17	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	female	#1530	12	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	female	#1520	12	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#1475	12	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	female	#2770	5	High	Verified
2016	Northern Ireland	female	#440	3	High	Verified
2004	Northern Ireland	female	#316	4	High	Verified
2017	Republic of Ireland	female	#873	3	High	Verified
2016	Republic of Ireland	female	#750	4	High	Verified
2015	Republic of Ireland	female	#660	5	High	Verified
2014	Republic of Ireland	female	#661	5	High	Verified
2011	Republic of Ireland	female	#695	5	High	Verified
2010	Republic of Ireland	female	#475	9	High	Verified
2009	Republic of Ireland	female	#488	8	High	Verified
2008	Republic of Ireland	female	#597	6	High	Verified
2007	Republic of Ireland	female	#705	4	High	Verified
2006	Republic of Ireland	female	#764	3	High	Verified
2005	Republic of Ireland	female	#587	4	High	Verified
2004	Republic of Ireland	female	#677	3	High	Verified
2002	Republic of Ireland	female	#374	7	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Northern Ireland hub — collected by NISRA
Republic of Ireland hub — collected by CSO Ireland

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 3 registrars between 1999 and 2017, ranked in 18 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #316, first reached in 2004.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 21 births, registered in England and Wales in 2005.

Its record falls into 2 separate stretches, with a longest absence of 1 year.

A second registrar first ranked it in 2002, and 5 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Catalina · #608, 28y
Catarina · #483, 30y
Catelyn · #372, 19y
Caterina · #393, 30y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 3 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Casie · #316, 19y
Kirstyn · #316, 13y
Xin · #316, 19y
Jagoda · #315, 21y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1990 and 1999.

Antonella · #316, 26y
Aysha · #316, 29y
Casie · #316, 19y
Catrin · #316, 29y

Cate was ranked #316 in Northern Ireland · Girls in 2004. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Cate and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Cate without appearing here.

Cate moved ahead of

Kari Compare
In 2010 they stood at #3533 and #3533 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2011 that had become #2636 and #5785.
Helene Compare
In 2013 they stood at #4171 and #3285 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2014 that had become #2659 and #5691.
Gail Compare
In 1999 they stood at #2770 and #2770 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2000 that had become #1475 and #3912.
Lynette Compare
In 1999 they stood at #2770 and #2444 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2000 that had become #1475 and #3912.

Moved ahead of Cate

Blake Compare
In 2011 they stood at #2636 and #2893 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2012 that had become #4171 and #1893.
Ezra Compare
In 2011 they stood at #2636 and #3185 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2012 that had become #4171 and #2969.
Marilyn Compare
In 2009 they stood at #2326 and #3031 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2010 that had become #3533 and #2843.
Malin Compare
In 2011 they stood at #2636 and #4764 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2012 that had become #4171 and #3681.

Moved the opposite way to Cate

Ada Compare
Between 1999 and 2016 in England and Wales · Girls, Cate went from #2770 to #4096 while Ada went from #2189 to #164.
Alma Compare
Between 1999 and 2016 in England and Wales · Girls, Cate went from #2770 to #4096 while Alma went from #3225 to #529.
Alyssa Compare
Between 1999 and 2016 in England and Wales · Girls, Cate went from #2770 to #4096 while Alyssa went from #483 to #198.
Amalie Compare
Between 1999 and 2016 in England and Wales · Girls, Cate went from #2770 to #4096 while Amalie went from #2770 to #703.

Moved the same way as Cate

Abigail Compare
Between 1999 and 2016 in England and Wales · Girls, Cate went from #2770 to #4096 and Abigail from #20 to #58.
Aimee Compare
Between 1999 and 2016 in England and Wales · Girls, Cate went from #2770 to #4096 and Aimee from #70 to #400.
Aisling Compare
Between 1999 and 2016 in England and Wales · Girls, Cate went from #2770 to #4096 and Aisling from #410 to #1416.
Alex Compare
Between 1999 and 2016 in England and Wales · Girls, Cate went from #2770 to #4096 and Alex from #204 to #1416.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1999 to 2017. Highest recorded position: #316 in Northern Ireland in 2004. Source data last verified 2026-07-22.

Cate

Cate at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Cate across 3 official records

Cate by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Cate appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Cate

Cate and the names beside it

Cate moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Cate

Moved the opposite way to Cate

Moved the same way as Cate

Cate at a glance

Cate across 3 official records

Cate by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Cate appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Cate

Cate and the names beside it

Cate moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Cate

Moved the opposite way to Cate

Moved the same way as Cate