Patsy

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Pätsi in SE Sweden.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 20 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◐

Patsy is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name55K records spelled Patsy9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Mexico, France, Peru

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

  Also written Pätsŷ, Pàtsy

• Polish given name3.4K records spelled Patsy14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Russian

  Also written Патси, Пэтси

54 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●

Patsy is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Diminutif anglais de Patricia/Patrick, du latin Patricius « patricien, noble ».

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In French, Pet form of Patricia.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• Irish and English: pet form of PATRICIA or PATRICK . It is generally a female name; as a male name it is almost completely restricted to Irish communities. Its popularity does not seem to have been seriously affected by its use in derogatory senses in the general vocabulary, in America meaning ‘a dupe’ and in Australia ‘a homosexual’.

  as a word

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) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Patsy Ruth Millerb. 1904USAmerican actress (1904-1995)
• Patsy Kellyb. 1910USAmerican actress (1910–1981)
• Patsy Smartb. 1918GBBritish actress (1918–1996)
• Patsy Garrettb. 1921USAmerican actress and singer (1921-2015)
• Patsy Minkb. 1927USAmerican politician (1927–2002)
• Patsy O'Connell Shermanb. 1930USAmerican chemist
• Patsy Parsonsb. 1931USactress (1931-2006)
• Patsy Clineb. 1932USAmerican country singer (1932–1963)
• Patsy Palmerb. 1972GBEnglish actress
• Patsy Ferranb. 1989ESSpanish-British actress

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 · 456 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Patsy?

We estimate roughly 61 thousand people bear Patsy (counting its spellings and scripts) across 5 countries in our records.

In which country does Patsy have the most bearers?

We estimate about 61 thousand people bear Patsy in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled patsy.

How common is Patsy compared with other names?

In the United States, Patsy is the 568th most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Patsy a male or female name?

Patsy is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Patsy mean?

Recorded meaning: A diminutive of the female given name Patricia.