Patsy
Masculine · “nobleman”
Patsy is given to both — 7,713 boys and 119,448 girls since 1880. See Patsy as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Patsy for a son is the Irish Patrick made affectionate — and Patrick means nobleman, from a Roman rank that the saint who carried it had actually been born into.
How old is the name Patsy?
Patsy first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Patsy alive today was born around 1926, making them about 99 years old. About 1,100 people named Patsy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Patsy most popular?
Patsy peaked in 1911, reaching #314 nationally. See the whole 1911 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From patricius to Patsy
The story of Patsy
Patrick is the great Irish name, and Irish speech made Paddy, Pat and Patsy from it — all three masculine and all three ordinary. Irish emigration brought them to America, where Patsy appears in the registers for boys from the 1880s and peaked around 1915. It later became commoner for girls through Patricia, which reversed the reading.
Meaning
nobleman
Through Patrick, from the Latin patricius, 'nobleman' — a real Roman social rank, from patres, the senatorial fathers. Saint Patrick was a Romano-British aristocrat's son taken as a slave to Ireland, so the name describes his actual station. The meaning is documented and undisputed.
How the name formed
- patricius
- Patrick
- Patsy
Related forms: Pádraig · Patrizio · Paddy
Pronouncing Patsy
PAT-see
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said identically whichever sex carries it.
Nicknames for Patsy
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
- 1886
- Most boys named
- 1922307 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #314reached in 1911
- Change vs 1988
- −28.6%5 in 1992, 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.
Patsy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Pádraig in Irish — related form
- Patrizio in Italian — related form
- Paddy in English — related form
Patsys among us
people named Patsy 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
Patsy 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
- Patrick stands behind it with a documented biography and a national patron saint.
- The nobleman meaning is literal rather than flattering — the saint really was one.
- It is warm and immediately friendly.
- In America the name now reads as feminine to nearly everyone.
- As a diminutive on the certificate it carries an informal register into adult life.
- It is period-coded to the early twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Patsy
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Patsys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Patsy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Patsy in 2025?
- Patsy is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Patsy with classmates?
- Patsy 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 Patsy? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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