Head to head · Boys' names
Chase vs Tate
#192 vs #193 in 2025
Chase is a whisker ahead (#192 vs #193 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Chase is stepping back from its peak, Tate is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Tate 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, Chase leads 5 measures of 6; Tate 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: Chase #936, Tate — — Chase higher
- 1890s: Chase #994, Tate — — Chase higher
- 1910s: Chase #2829, Tate #2699 — Tate higher
- 1920s: Chase #3441, Tate #3726 — Chase higher
- 1930s: Chase #3398, Tate #3027 — Tate higher
- 1940s: Chase #2806, Tate #3167 — Chase higher
- 1950s: Chase #2681, Tate #3298 — Chase higher
- 1960s: Chase #1812, Tate #1489 — Tate higher
- 1970s: Chase #805, Tate #942 — Chase higher
- 1980s: Chase #245, Tate #1188 — Chase higher
- 1990s: Chase #96, Tate #670 — Chase higher
- 2000s: Chase #78, Tate #419 — Chase higher
- 2010s: Chase #86, Tate #417 — Chase higher
- 2020s: Chase #151, Tate #249 — Chase higher
Chase stood higher in 11 of 14 decades; Chase has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Chase | Tate |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #936 | — |
| 1890s | #994 | — |
| 1910s | #2829 | #2699 |
| 1920s | #3441 | #3726 |
| 1930s | #3398 | #3027 |
| 1940s | #2806 | #3167 |
| 1950s | #2681 | #3298 |
| 1960s | #1812 | #1489 |
| 1970s | #805 | #942 |
| 1980s | #245 | #1188 |
| 1990s | #96 | #670 |
| 2000s | #78 | #419 |
| 2010s | #86 | #417 |
| 2020s | #151 | #249 |
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
Chase
hunt, or hunting ground
From Old French chacier, 'to hunt', which gave Middle English chace — both the pursuit and the enclosed land set aside for it. As a surname it marked a huntsman.
chacier (Old French) → chace (Middle English) → Chase (English surname) → Chase (given name)
How it traveled
The root is Old French chacier, 'to hunt', carried into England after the Norman Conquest and worn down into Middle English chace. In medieval England a chase was also a place: unfenced hunting land held by a lord, a word still sitting in English place names like Cannock Chase and Chevy Chase, the latter familiar from the fifteenth-century border ballad.
Tate
cheerful, glad
The root reaches English through the Old Norse personal name Teitr, meaning glad or cheerful, reinforced by a related Old English name element with the same sense. Two roads, one meaning.
Teitr → Tait → Tate
How it traveled
The name spread first as a surname across northern England and lowland Scotland, where Norse settlement was heaviest, appearing in records as both Tate and Tait. Its most public bearer was Henry Tate, the Liverpool sugar refiner who gave Britain the gallery that still carries the name.
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
Chase
CHAYSS
One syllable, ending in a clean s sound rather than a z. Spelling and sound match, in English and for most English-speaking countries.
- Chasey — Informal, mostly used within families and by close friends; rarely written down.
- Chay — Occasional spoken clipping; not established as a standalone given name in the US.
Tate
TAYT
Rhymes with eight and late. One syllable, and the spelling gives it away on sight — misreadings are close to impossible.
- Tate — One syllable already, so most bearers go by the full name in every setting, formal and casual alike.
- Tater — An affectionate family extension rather than a real short form; used by parents and siblings, rarely outside the house.
- T — Initial-only nickname, most often on teams and in workplaces.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Chase if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsChase is stepping back from its peak
Choose Tate if you want…
- a name on the way upup 160 places on the charts in five years
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
Chase
Strengths
- One syllable, spelled exactly as it sounds — almost never misspelled or mispronounced by an English speaker.
- A documented English surname with a traceable line back to Old French, so the history is real rather than guessed.
- Reads clearly as a given name in the US while still working like a surname, which pairs easily with most last names.
To consider
- It is also an everyday English verb, so the name will meet puns and playground jokes — cut to the chase, chasing after. Most bearers grow used to it early.
- In the US the word is bound up with one of the country's largest banks, which means the name shares its spelling with a brand seen on nearly every high street.
- There is little to shorten. Chase is already as short as it gets, so a child who wants a nickname will have to invent one.
Tate
Strengths
- Spelled exactly as it sounds, so it survives phone calls, roll calls and forms without correction.
- One syllable, which makes it easy to pair with longer or multi-syllable surnames.
- A documented history as a surname in northern England and Scotland going back to Norse settlement.
To consider
- The surname is currently attached to a widely discussed internet personality, and some adults will hear that before anything else. Associations like this tend to fade, but it is worth knowing now rather than later.
- This spelling goes to boys in nearly every case. A girl named Tate will often be read as a boy on paperwork and rosters, which some families welcome and others would rather avoid.
- Rhymes are plentiful and obvious — late, great, eight — and Tater turns up quickly on playgrounds. It is gentle teasing rather than cruel, but it does turn up.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Chase
73%chance Chase feels dated by 2040
Chase is coming down from a big peak (#61 in 2009). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Tate
56%chance Tate feels dated by 2040
Tate is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Chase and Tate 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 Chase and Tate?
Put both to the vote.
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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
- One-syllable names: said in a single beat
- Strong-sounding names with a hard edge
- Names with nowhere to shorten
- all guides
Every list here names both Chase and Tate — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Chase or Tate — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Chase or Tate?
- Chase, in 2025: Chase ranked #192 with 1,904 babies; Tate ranked #193 with 1,862 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Chase or Tate?
- Tate. Over the last five years Chase moved down 69 places; Tate moved up 160 places.
- Which is the older name, Chase or Tate?
- Chase entered the US charts in 1885; Tate entered the US charts in 1912. On the American record, Chase is the older name.
- How many people are named Chase and Tate?
- About 178,000 people named Chase are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 27,000 people named Tate are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Chases or Tates in the classroom?
- Chase will almost certainly be the only one in school. Tate 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
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