Head to head · Boys' names
Casey vs Cody
#320 vs #318 in 2025
Cody is a whisker ahead (#318 vs #320 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Cody is holding its place on the charts, Casey is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Casey has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Cody leads 5 measures of 6; Casey leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Casey #917, Cody #888 — Cody higher
- 1890s: Casey #954, Cody #993 — Casey higher
- 1900s: Casey #856, Cody #1265 — Casey higher
- 1910s: Casey #782, Cody #1562 — Casey higher
- 1920s: Casey #1246, Cody #1900 — Casey higher
- 1930s: Casey #1310, Cody #1591 — Casey higher
- 1940s: Casey #947, Cody #1361 — Casey higher
- 1950s: Casey #475, Cody #878 — Casey higher
- 1960s: Casey #364, Cody #607 — Casey higher
- 1970s: Casey #153, Cody #261 — Casey higher
- 1980s: Casey #86, Cody #75 — Cody higher
- 1990s: Casey #129, Cody #31 — Cody higher
- 2000s: Casey #281, Cody #94 — Cody higher
- 2010s: Casey #508, Cody #229 — Cody higher
- 2020s: Casey #374, Cody #304 — Cody higher
Casey stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Cody has held the lead since the 1980s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Casey | Cody |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #917 | #888 |
| 1890s | #954 | #993 |
| 1900s | #856 | #1265 |
| 1910s | #782 | #1562 |
| 1920s | #1246 | #1900 |
| 1930s | #1310 | #1591 |
| 1940s | #947 | #1361 |
| 1950s | #475 | #878 |
| 1960s | #364 | #607 |
| 1970s | #153 | #261 |
| 1980s | #86 | #75 |
| 1990s | #129 | #31 |
| 2000s | #281 | #94 |
| 2010s | #508 | #229 |
| 2020s | #374 | #304 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Casey
Not charting outside the US.
Cody
- Scotland#70
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Casey
vigilant, watchful
The Irish surname Ó Cathasaigh means 'descendant of Cathasach', from cathasach, 'vigilant' or 'watchful'. That is the main road into English. A second road exists for girls: Casey has also been used as a short form of names beginning with Cass- or K-sounds, and as a spelling of the initials K.C.
cathasach → Ó Cathasaigh → Casey (surname) → Casey (given name)
How it traveled
Ó Cathasaigh was a family name in Ireland long before it was anybody's first name, borne by several distinct kindreds, and it was anglicized as Casey in the nineteenth century. Irish emigration carried it to the United States, where the American habit of promoting surnames to given names took hold of it.
Cody
Either "descendant of the helpful one" or "son of Óda"
Cody anglicizes two different Irish surnames. Ó Cuidighthigh comes from cuidightheach, a word for a helper or supporter. Mac Óda means son of Óda, an Irish form of the Norman name Odo. Both lines produced families spelled Cody in English, and there is no way to sort one household from the other after four centuries of anglicization.
Óda → Mac Óda / Ó Cuidighthigh → Cody (Irish surname) → Cody (given name)
How it traveled
The name is Irish before it is anything else — a surname from Kilkenny and the southeast, written Ó Cuidighthigh or Mac Óda in the Irish and flattened to Cody by English-speaking clerks. Irish emigration carried it into the United States through the nineteenth century, where it stayed a surname first: William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody, showman and army scout, gave the name to the Wyoming town he helped found.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Casey
KAY-see
Two syllables, stress on the first. The spellings Casey, Kasey and Kacey are all said the same way, which is convenient aloud and less so in writing.
- Case — The usual informal clip, used by family and friends rather than on paperwork.
- Cass — Heard more often for girls, where it overlaps with the short form of Cassandra and Cassidy.
- KC — A written shorthand as much as a spoken one, since the name already sounds like the two letters.
Cody
KOH-dee
Stress on the first syllable. Pronounced the same way in American, British and Irish English, and almost never misread.
- Code — The usual informal clip among friends and teammates; rarely written down.
- Codes — Casual, mostly spoken, common in families and among schoolmates.
- C.J. — Used when a middle initial is available; functions as an alternative everyday name rather than a shortening.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Casey if you want…
- a name on the way upup 197 places on the charts in five years
Choose Cody if you want…
- a name holding steadyCody is holding its place on the charts
- a name that charts abroad tooCody is on the national lists of Scotland
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Casey
Strengths
- Spelled and said correctly on first hearing by almost everyone in the US, with no pronunciation to teach.
- In unbroken use as a first name since the late nineteenth century, so it reads as familiar rather than new in any generation.
- Works unchanged for a boy or a girl, and needs no adjustment if the child later prefers Case or Cass.
To consider
- Most Caseys are boys, but a real minority are girls, so strangers reading it on a list or an email will sometimes guess wrong. Families on either side of that split get used to a small correction now and then.
- Kasey and Kacey sound identical, so expect to spell it aloud fairly often — the name is well known, the spelling less automatic.
- A heavily covered American criminal trial in the early 2010s put the name in headlines for a while. That association has faded considerably, and the older ones — a railroad ballad, a baseball poem — have outlasted it.
Cody
Strengths
- Two syllables, phonetic spelling, no silent letters — a child can write it early and adults get it right on first hearing.
- Has been on American birth records since the nineteenth century, so it reads as familiar rather than newly coined.
- Travels well in English-speaking countries; it also charts in Scotland.
To consider
- Kody, Codie and Coty are all in real use, so expect to spell it aloud now and then — though the plain Cody spelling is the one most people default to.
- The name is strongly linked to the American West and to Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West shows. That association is friendly enough, but it is there.
- Most people carrying this name today are adults rather than children, so it may register to some ears as a grown-up's name — which also means a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Casey and Cody in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Casey and Cody?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Casey and Cody — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Casey or Cody — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Casey or Cody?
- Cody, in 2025: Cody ranked #318 with 1,076 babies; Casey ranked #320 with 1,072 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Casey or Cody?
- Casey. Over the last five years Casey moved up 197 places; Cody moved down 21 places.
- Which is the older name, Casey or Cody?
- Casey entered the US charts in 1888; Cody entered the US charts in 1884. On the American record, Cody is the older name.
- How many people are named Casey and Cody?
- About 109,000 people named Casey are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 282,000 people named Cody are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Caseys or Codys in the classroom?
- Casey will almost certainly be the only one in school. Cody will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Casey, Cody and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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