Kitty
Feminine · “pure”
Kitty is Katherine's oldest English short form — older than Kate, and standard for centuries before it became the ordinary word for a cat.
How old is the name Kitty?
Kitty was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Kitty alive today was born around 1947, making them about 78 years old. About 6,600 people named Kitty are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kitty most popular?
Kitty peaked in 1881, reaching #346 nationally. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aikaterine to Kitty
The story of Kitty
Kit and Kitty were the standard English short forms of Katherine from the Middle Ages, and both were used for Christopher as well. Kitty was ordinary in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England — Jane Austen has one in Pride and Prejudice. American families registered it outright, and it peaked around 1885.
Meaningscholars disagree
pure
Through Katherine, whose earliest form Aikaterine is of unrecovered origin. The Greek katharos, 'pure', was attached later and produced the th spelling. Kitty descends from Kit, the medieval English short form, and predates the word's use for a cat by several centuries.
How the name formed
- Aikaterine
- Katherine
- Kit
- Kitty
Related forms: Kittie · Kit · Katherine
Pronouncing Kitty
KIT-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first. It is a homophone of the ordinary English word for a cat.
Nicknames for Kitty
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1947358 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #346reached in 1881
- Change vs 2019
- −14.3%6 in 2024, from 7
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.
Kitty in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kittie in English — spelling variant
- Kit in English — related form
- Katherine in English — related form
Kittys among us
people named Kitty are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Kitty sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Katherine stands behind it with more forms across more languages than almost any other name.
- Kit is available as a sharper form that is fashionable again.
- It has a documented literary record going back centuries.
- It is a homophone of the ordinary word for a cat.
- As a diminutive on the certificate it carries an informal register into adult life.
- It is strongly period-coded to the nineteenth century.
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Kitty
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Kittys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,600 people named Kitty are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kitty in 2025?
- Kitty is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Kitty with classmates?
- Kitty will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kitty? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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