About Cash
Cash is an English surname used as a first name, originally connected with the making of boxes or cases. It also coincides with the everyday word for money. Musician Johnny Cash gives the surname a powerful cultural presence, while William Faulkner’s character Cash Bundren provides an older literary example of Cash as a personal name.
Meaning and origin
The occupational surname comes from Norman French casse, “case,” ultimately Latin capsa, “box.” It referred to a box maker. The English money word developed from the same French and Latin family of words, giving the modern name two closely connected verbal associations.
As a given name, Cash can therefore evoke an inherited surname, the famous musician, or the familiar English word. The older surname meaning remains more specific than simply “wealth.” Kash is a modern spelling variant.
Cash is pronounced KASH, with one syllable and the vowel of cat. The sh ending makes it softer at the close than short names ending in a hard t or k.
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash began recording for Sun Records in Memphis during the 1950s. His spare early sound centered on voice, electric guitar, and upright bass, creating a distinctive rhythmic style that could move between country and pop audiences.
His work expanded into concept albums, gospel, folk material, and songs addressing social questions. On January 13, 1968, he recorded At Folsom Prison; the following year’s At San Quentin became another landmark live album. The prison performances helped establish some of the most enduring images of his career.
Cash entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980. His television variety program, The Johnny Cash Show, also brought a broad range of performers to a national audience between 1969 and 1971. The surname’s musical association reaches across several decades and styles.
Cash Bundren
In Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Cash is the skilled carpenter of the Bundren family. As his mother Addie approaches death, he builds her coffin with painstaking attention to its construction.
The task places practical craftsmanship beside the emotional strain of the family’s loss. His methodical work and ability to earn money distinguish him within the household. This gives Cash a literary association with a working artisan, separate from the money word’s modern everyday use.
The character is an established fictional example of the exact first name, while Johnny Cash’s influence comes through his surname.
American popularity
Cash was given to seventy-seven American boys in 2000. By 2010 the count had risen to 1,319, and its strongest year came in 2013, with 1,483 boys at #243.
In 2025 it ranked #287, with 1,181 births. The sharp rise after 2000 makes Cash a substantially more familiar American given name than it was at the beginning of the century, while its surname and literary histories are considerably older.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Meaning, history, and cultural connections draw on the references below. Existing Wiktionary material is attributed under CC BY-SA 4.0 where applicable. American figures use the local Social Security Administration exact-spelling series; counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.
- Wiktionary: Cash (English)
- SSA: national data
- Wikidata: James Cash Penney
- Wikidata: Cash Levy
- Country Music Hall of Fame: Johnny Cash
- Open Yale Courses: As I Lay Dying
Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
How popular is Cash?
In 2025, Cash ranked #287 among boys in the United States, with 1,181 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1885; its largest annual count was 1,483 in 2013. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.