Head to head · Boys' names
Casey vs Cruz
#320 vs #331 in 2025
Casey is a whisker ahead (#320 vs #331 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Casey is back after a long quiet spell, Cruz is holding its place on the charts.
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, Casey leads 5 measures of 6; Cruz 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, Cruz #809 — Cruz higher
- 1890s: Casey #954, Cruz — — Casey higher
- 1900s: Casey #856, Cruz #1076 — Casey higher
- 1910s: Casey #782, Cruz #1068 — Casey higher
- 1920s: Casey #1246, Cruz #774 — Cruz higher
- 1930s: Casey #1310, Cruz #766 — Cruz higher
- 1940s: Casey #947, Cruz #765 — Cruz higher
- 1950s: Casey #475, Cruz #798 — Casey higher
- 1960s: Casey #364, Cruz #861 — Casey higher
- 1970s: Casey #153, Cruz #939 — Casey higher
- 1980s: Casey #86, Cruz #820 — Casey higher
- 1990s: Casey #129, Cruz #724 — Casey higher
- 2000s: Casey #281, Cruz #519 — Casey higher
- 2010s: Casey #508, Cruz #312 — Cruz higher
- 2020s: Casey #374, Cruz #313 — Cruz higher
Casey stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Cruz has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Casey | Cruz |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #917 | #809 |
| 1890s | #954 | — |
| 1900s | #856 | #1076 |
| 1910s | #782 | #1068 |
| 1920s | #1246 | #774 |
| 1930s | #1310 | #766 |
| 1940s | #947 | #765 |
| 1950s | #475 | #798 |
| 1960s | #364 | #861 |
| 1970s | #153 | #939 |
| 1980s | #86 | #820 |
| 1990s | #129 | #724 |
| 2000s | #281 | #519 |
| 2010s | #508 | #312 |
| 2020s | #374 | #313 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
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.
Cruz
cross
From Latin crux, which became cruz in Spanish and Portuguese. The reference is specifically to the Christian cross rather than to crossing or a crossroads.
crux (Latin) → cruz (Spanish, Portuguese) → De la Cruz / Santa Cruz (surname) → Cruz (given name)
How it traveled
Latin crux gave Spanish and Portuguese cruz, and from the Middle Ages onward it attached itself to people: those who lived by a roadside cross, and those who took the name from devotion to the Holy Cross, whose feast falls in mid-September. It became one of the most widespread surnames in the Spanish-speaking world, often in the fuller forms De la Cruz and Santa Cruz, and traveled with Spanish across the Atlantic and to the Philippines.
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.
Cruz
KROOZ
One syllable throughout. English speakers say it with a z at the end; Latin American Spanish uses a softer s sound, and much of Spain uses a th. In American English it sounds identical to the surname Cruise.
- Cruzito — Spanish diminutive, used within families rather than as a name on paper.
- Cruzy — An informal English playground shortening; not established as an independent given name.
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 most people already know#320 in 2025, 1,072 babies that year
- a name on the way upup 197 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itCasey runs 2 syllables, Cruz 1
- a newer arrivalCasey entered the US charts in 1888
Choose Cruz if you want…
- a name fewer children share#331 in 2025 — cruz will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name holding steadyCruz is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesCruz is 1 syllable to Casey's 2
- a long American recordCruz was already in use when US records began in 1880
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.
Cruz
Strengths
- One syllable and four letters — it is spelled the way it sounds in both English and Spanish, and rarely needs repeating.
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Portuguese and English, so it crosses between a bilingual family's two languages without adjustment.
- A long, unbroken written record as a surname across Spain, Latin America and the Philippines before it was ever a first name.
To consider
- It is a very well-known surname, so some people will first read it as a last name and may ask which it is. That settles quickly, but it will come up on forms and rosters.
- In American English it is a homophone of Cruise, which invites the obvious film-star remark. Most bearers hear it a few times and then it fades.
- The meaning is explicitly Christian, and the name grew out of devotion to the cross. Worth knowing if you would rather the meaning stayed neutral — or worth knowing if that is exactly the point.
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 Cruz 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 Cruz?
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.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
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 Cruz — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Casey or Cruz — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Casey or Cruz?
- Casey, in 2025: Casey ranked #320 with 1,072 babies; Cruz ranked #331 with 1,025 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Casey or Cruz?
- Casey. Over the last five years Casey moved up 197 places; Cruz moved down 28 places.
- Which is the older name, Casey or Cruz?
- Casey entered the US charts in 1888; Cruz was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Cruz is the older name.
- How many people are named Casey and Cruz?
- About 109,000 people named Casey are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 28,000 people named Cruz are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Caseys or Cruzs in the classroom?
- Casey will almost certainly be the only one in school. Cruz will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. 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, Cruz and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap