Cash
Masculine · Latin roots
Cash is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 27,705 boys against 135 girls since 1880.
Cash arrived in American use the way many of the best short names did — as a family surname turned first name, brief enough to survive any accent. It is one closed syllable, the vowel flat and quick, the ending a soft brush of consonants that needs no help from a microphone. English speakers have been reading this exact spelling on the page for centuries, which is a rare head start for a name of its age on the charts.
How old is the name Cash?
Cash first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Cash is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 27,000 people named Cash are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cash most popular?
Cash peaked in 2013, reaching #243 nationally. Today it ranks #287, 44 places below that high. See the whole 2013 chart.
Where it comes from
From capsa (Latin) to Cash
The story of Cash
The line begins with Latin capsa, a box or chest, which gave Anglo-Norman French casse and, in medieval England, a surname for the man who made them. Ireland contributed a second stream, where Cash served as an anglicization of Ó Caise and, in places, a shortening of Cassidy. As a surname it crossed to America early and settled widely, and it is from the surname — not from the noun — that the given name grew, following the same path Americans have long used to turn family names into first names. Its use for boys is recent by the standards of English naming, a wave still in its first generations rather than a revival of anything older.
Meaningscholars disagree
Most likely a maker of cases or boxes, from Anglo-Norman French casse
Two documented readings compete for the surname. The English one is occupational: casse, a case or chest, from Latin capsa — a Cash made boxes. The Irish one takes it as an anglicization of Ó Caise, and in some families as a clipped form of Cassidy. Separately, the everyday word cash comes from the same Latin capsa, by way of the money-box, so the surname and the word are cousins rather than one being derived from the other.
How the name formed
- capsaLatin
- casseAnglo-Norman French
- CashEnglish and Irish surname
- Cashgiven name
Related forms: Kash
Pronouncing Cash
KASH
One syllable, rhyming with dash. No regional variation to speak of, and nothing in the spelling that trips up a first reading.
Nicknames for Cash
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1885
- Most boys named
- 20211,405 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #243reached in 2013
- Change vs 2023
- +2.5%1,181 in 2025, from 1,152
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Cash in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kash in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Cashs among us
people named Cash are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,446 born in 2025 was named Cash
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cash
- #287
- Cash on the 2025 chart
- #162
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cash went to 1,181 boys in 2025, but Kash is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 2,374, which makes it the 162nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 125 places above the chart.
- Kash1,183
- Cash1,181
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 boy in 719 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,446 for Cash itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Darrel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cash's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darrel climbed just as high around 1939, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darrel's path sketches the road Cash is walking now.
Cash sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Cash is headed
Cash should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Cash beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cash in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and one obvious pronunciation — it survives loudspeakers, phone calls and roll call without correction.
- Spelled as an ordinary English word, so most people write it right the first time they hear it.
- Works as the short form of a longer formal name, Cassius or Cassian, if parents want a full-length option on the birth certificate.
- Carries a genuine surname history in both England and Ireland, which gives it a real place in the record rather than a recent invention.
- It is also the plain English word for money, and that reading arrives first for almost everyone. Expect the jokes — about wallets, about registers — to be lifelong, if mostly good-natured.
- The Kash spelling is in real circulation, so a Cash will spend a certain amount of life confirming which one he is.
- The name's wave is recent enough that nearly everyone carrying it is still a child or a young person; there is no generation of grown Cashes yet to make it feel ordinary on an adult.
- Johnny Cash looms over the name for many listeners. That is a warm association for most, but it is a strong one, and it comes with the name whether or not the family cares for the music.
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What they receive
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Cash
Masculine · Latin roots · #287 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cashs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 27,000 people named Cash are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cash?
- Cash is one of 2 recorded spellings. Kash is the more common one — 1,183 births in 2025 against 1,181 for Cash.
- How popular is the name Cash in 2025?
- Cash ranks #287 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,181 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cash?
- About 1 in every 1,446 US boys born in 2025 was named Cash — 1,181 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cash with classmates?
- Cash will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cash
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lukas#288 · Kash#286 · Colt#285 · Lennox#289 · Derek#284 · Ares#290 · Tobias#283 · Avery#291
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cash? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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