Cate

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Kate in US United States, AU Australia, GB United Kingdom and 24 more.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 15 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Cate is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname7.8K records spelled Cate16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Guatemala, Argentina

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Caté, Catë, Catè, Cätë, Čäťę

• a separate surname2.4K records spelled Cate2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Caté

• French surname1.7K records spelled Cate6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Philippines, Netherlands

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Caté, Câte, Cäté, Çate

• Italian surname362 records spelled Cate2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Italy, Netherlands

  Also written Catè

56 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Cate is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Spanish, smack; slap

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Italian, redução popular e coloquial de Caterina

  as a name·Dicionário dos sobrenomes italianos

• In Italian, Variante di Caterina

  as a name·Dizionario dei cognomi italiani

• In Asturian, first/third-person singular present subjunctive of catar

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Latin, vocative masculine singular of catus

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 41 years between 1980–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• George W. Cateb. 1825USAmerican politician (1825–1905)
• William H. Cateb. 1839USArkansas politician (1839-1899)
• John S. Cateb. 1839USAmerican politician
• Anna Cate Doleb. 1841USartist and temperance movement advocate (1841-1918)
• William W. Cateb. 1870USAmerican politician
• Jasper ten Cateb. 1887RUDurch physiologist and university teacher
• Jamie H. D. Cateb. 1968USresearcher
• Troy Cateb. 1980USAmerican baseball player
• Ana Cateb. 1991USNicaraguan association football player
• Field Cateb. 1997USactor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 166 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Cate?

We estimate roughly 98 thousand people bear Cate (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Cate have the most bearers?

Cate is most frequently recorded in Australia, where it is most often spelled kate.

How common is Cate compared with other names?

In Australia, Cate is the 79th most common given name of 197,734 given names recorded there.

What does the name Cate mean?

Recorded meaning: A delicacy or item of food.