Pat
Masculine · “noble”
Pat is given to both — 26,732 boys and 40,123 girls since 1880. See Pat as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Pat is Patrick reduced to three letters, and Patrick is a Roman class term carried to Ireland by a fifth-century Briton who had been taken there as a slave and went back by choice.
How old is the name Pat?
Pat was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Pat alive today was born around 1946, making them about 79 years old. About 13,000 people named Pat are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pat most popular?
Pat peaked in 1937, reaching #240 nationally. See the whole 1937 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From patricius to Pat
The story of Pat
Patrick was a Romano-British missionary whose own account of his life survives, and he became the patron of Ireland — where for centuries the name was considered too sacred for ordinary use, so families used Pádraigín and other softened forms instead. That restraint ended, and Patrick became one of the defining Irish names. Pat followed it into American registers as a legal name, peaking in the mid-1930s.
Meaning
noble, patrician
From the Latin patricius, 'nobleman' — a member of the hereditary patrician order of Rome, defined against the plebeians. Patricia is the feminine of the same word, which is why the short form genuinely serves both.
How the name formed
- patricius
- Patricius
- Patrick
- Pat
Related forms: Pádraig · Patrice · Patrizio · Patricio
Pronouncing Pat
PAT
One syllable. Said identically for either sex and in every English accent.
Nicknames for Pat
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 boys named
- 1961929 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #240reached in 1937
- Change vs 2005
- −16.7%5 in 2014, from 6
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.
Pat in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pádraig in Irish — related form
- Patrice in French — related form
- Patrizio in Italian — related form
- Patricio in Spanish — related form
Pats among us
people named Pat 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
Pat has already lived its whole cycle: it rose, had its era, and has stepped off the charts. The fashion question is behind it — what lies ahead is the waiting room where revivals begin, once a name's first generation has grown distant enough for it to sound fresh again.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Patrick stands behind it with a documented fifth-century life and a national patronage.
- Three letters, one syllable, and never misheard.
- It is genuinely unisex in a way very few names manage.
- It is an ordinary English noun and verb as well as a name.
- Because it does not signal sex, it is often assumed to be feminine in American writing.
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What they receive
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Pat
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Pats are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 13,000 people named Pat are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pat in 2025?
- Pat is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Pat with classmates?
- Pat will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Paul#262 · Patrick#235 · Peter#187 · Philip#527 · Phillip#651 · Parker#102 · Preston#299 · Pedro#455
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pat? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Pat and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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