Cait

Girls' name

Diminutive of Caitlin or Caitlyn

Cait has been given to 153 babies in the U.S. since 2000. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2005, with 16 recorded.

Babies named Cait, 2022

1 in 677,000

Cait over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Cait: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Caitlin or Caitlyn

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Cait means

Cait is a diminutive of Caitlin or Caitlyn.

Origin, language, and formation

Cait is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Caitlin and Caitlyn.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 153 girls were recorded with the name Cait between 2000 and 2022. Its highest annual count was 16 in 2005; its best national rank was #7,202 in 2005.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Cait?

Cait had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2022, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2022: 1 in 677,000; 5 of 3,385,755 births
Among girls only: 1 in 328,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2022: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 469,366 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Cait sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2022 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 469,366 children born in 2022 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cait. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Caits were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cait was born before 2008 — so the typical Cait is around 17 today.

Median birth year: 2008; About 17 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 61.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 153; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 61.4% of all recorded uses (94).

Is Cait rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 2005 (16)
Years since peak: 20; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 39.5% average annual change
Best rank ever: #7,202; 2005

Spellings of Cait

Cait is not the most common spelling — Gail is, with 33.0% against Cait's 0.03%.

Gail33.0%201,746
Faith24.2%147,851
Cara8.7%53,305
Pat6.6%40,123
Cali3.8%23,342
Kaia3.4%20,909
Maia3.0%18,200
Cari2.1%12,757

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Cait around the world

Where Cait ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

England & Wales
1996–2020
#5,493
in 2020
Scotland
2000–2006
#722
in 2006
Northern Ireland
2002–2025
#259
in 2025
Ireland
1967–2025
#226
in 2025
Canada
2006–2006
#2,939
in 2006
South Australia
1987–2002
#730
in 2002

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Cait by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #7,202; 2005
Peak year: 2005; 16 that year
First recorded: 2000
Last recorded: 2022
All-time count: 153
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Cait

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Cailah Caiya Cai Caiyah Caia Cairo Caily Caisyn Cailani Caira Caisley Caili Caiah Caila Cailen Cailie Caity Cailan Cairi Caileen Caidyn Cailee Caiden Caisey

Sibling names for Cait

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Jaci Yahaira Pilar Anisa Jamya Yajaira Anjali Anneliese

For a brother

Braulio Johnpaul Jamarion Kenyon Paulo Kadin Lavon Tye

Explore around Cait

Top names of 2005, Cait's peak year The 2000s in full Other names that peaked in 2005 Girls' names starting with C