Case
Meaning
short form of Casey, the Irish surname Ó Cathasaigh
The story
Case is a short form of Casey, says Behind the Name, and Casey is an Irish surname, the Anglicized form of Ó Cathasaigh, a patronymic from the given name Cathassach; the entry adds that Casey can be given in honour of Casey Jones, the train engineer who died in 1900 saving his passengers. The one-syllable form has its own American line, and it has climbed in every completed decade since the 1960s: about 46 boys that decade, about 280 in the 1980s, about 530 in the 1990s, about 1,580 in the 2000s, about 4,930 in the 2010s, and about 2,440 so far this decade. An Irish patronymic behind it, a folk hero in the middle distance, and a name pared down to a single beat.
The formal names behind Case
Case is an established short form of this name.
Kayce · Irish origin · variant of Casey or Case; Casey from Cathassach, 'vigilant'
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Case peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
When you meet Case
Most people given the name Case in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Case deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Case truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Case fits with your family’s names and surname.
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