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Cathal

Boys' name

Strong in battle, through Cathal

Cathal has been given to 40 babies in the U.S. since 1998. 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 2000, with 10 recorded.

Babies named Cathal, 2015

1 in 740,000

Cathal over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02.557.51018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Cathal: meaning, origin, and history

Strong in battle, through Cathal

Irish and Old Irish

What Cathal means

Cathal belongs to the name family reached through Cathal → Cathal. Its meaning is “strong in battle”.

Origin, language, and formation

Cathal is used in English and Irish. Its origins include Irish and Old Irish.

Cathal comes through Irish Cathal.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Charles and Cathal.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Irish, Cathal is pronounced /ˈkahəlˠ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 40 boys were recorded with the name Cathal between 1998 and 2015. Its highest annual count was 10 in 2000; its best national rank was #6,379 in 2000.

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 Cathal?

Cathal had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2015, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2015
1 in 740,000
5 of 3,701,574 births
Among boys only
1 in 383,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2015
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
513,148 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Cathal sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2015 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 513,148 children born in 2015 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cathal. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Cathals were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cathal was born before 2002 — so the typical Cathal is around 23 today.

Median birth year
2002
About 23 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
72.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
40
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 72.5% of all recorded uses (29).

Is Cathal 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 2000 (10)
Years since peak
25
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Not enough data
Too few years
Best rank ever
#6,379
2000

Spellings of Cathal

Cathal is not the most common spelling — Nathan is, with 98.1% against Cathal's <0.01%.

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.

Cathal around the world

Where Cathal 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
    1996–2022
    #3,450
    in 2022
  • Scotland
    1992–2025
    #762
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    1997–2025
    #149
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1964–2025
    #90
    in 2025
  • South Australia
    2007–2007
    #680
    in 2007

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office 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.

Cathal by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#6,379
2000
Peak year
2000
10 that year
First recorded
1998
Last recorded
2015
All-time count
40
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Cathal

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

CathanNishalSophalMikhalSnehalMeshalCatchSahalCatinaCataldoMitchalCatelloDashalCatcherNischalMykhalCatonCatrellCatlinKhushalKrishalKushalMashalNehal

Sibling names for Cathal

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

Explore around Cathal

Top names of 2000, Cathal's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2000Boys' names starting with C