Cassidy

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Cassidy

Gender: Feminine, Masculine
Language: English, Irish
Etymology:
Cassidy comes from an Irish Gaelic surname, Ó Caiside, meaning “A Descendent of Casidhe.” Casidhe means “Clever.”

History:
Cassidy is one of those names like Sherman, Taylor, Russell, or Harrison, that was a surname transferred to become a first name in the United States (benefitting from the trend for giving Irish names).

Originally, it would have been bestowed upon sons (very occasionally daughters) as either a first or a middle name in order to honor the Cassidy surname. For example, a woman named Mary Cassidy who married a man named John Smith, may name her son John Cassidy Smith, or merely Cassidy Smith. Or a man wishing to honor Judge Thomas Cassidy may name his son Thomas Cassidy Johnson, or Cassidy Johnson.

Cassidy-as-a-first-name was, however, exceedingly rare. Most Irish are Roman Catholic and tradtionally, most Roman Catholics gave their children saints names and avoided the surname-as-frist-name trend.

This changed in the 1980s, when Cassidy was adopted as a first name, mostly for girls. Partially, this may have been due to the popularity of the name Cassandra in the 1980s, but also to the practice of giving girls Irish surnames as first names, like Kelly, or Kerry, Darcy, or Casey.

The name Cassidy, although steadily growing in popularity, received a significant boost in 1993 when popular daytime talk show show host Kathie Lee Gifford named her daughter Cassidy.

Pronunciation: cass-eh-dee.

Diminutives:
English: Cass.

Alternates (feminine): Kassidy, Kasidy, Kassidi, Cassidi, Cassady.

Popularity:
Percentage from the 1990 U.S. Census:
less than 0.004 % of males named Cassidy
0.003 % of females named Cassidy

0.008 % surnamed Cassidy

Popularity of Cassidy, for males:
Popularity (for newborns):
In the United States...
1880-1982: N/A
1983: 668th most popular.
1984: 666th most popular.
1985: 715th most popular.
1986: 911th most popular.
1987: 851st most popular.
1988: 888th most popular.
1989: 911th most popular.
1990: 979th most popular.
1991-2004: N/A

Popularity of Cassidy, for females:
Popularity (for newborns):
In the United States...
1880-1980: N/A
1981: 942nd most popular.
1982: 755th most popular.
1983: 533rd most popular.
1984: 490th most popular.
1985: 490th most popular.
1986: 544th most popular.
1987: 521st most popular.
1988: 537th most popular.
1989: 490th most popular.
1990: 493rd most popular.
1991: 437th most popular.
1992: 377th most popular.
1993: 282nd most popular.
1994: 144th most popular.
1995: 110th most popular.
1996: 113th most popular.
1997: 107th most popular.
1998: 113th most popular.
1999: 99th most popular. - Peak!
2000: 109th most popular.
2001: 110th most popular.
2002: 133rd most popular.
2003: 153rd most popular.
2004: 166th most popular.

Popularity of Kassidy, for females:
Popularity (for newborns):
In the United States...
1880-1992: N/A
1993: 923rd most popular.
1994: 555th most popular.
1995: 440th most popular.
1996: 447th most popular.
1997: 366th most popular.
1998: 362nd most popular.
1999: 328th most popular.
2000: 315th most popular. - Peak!
2001: 336th most popular.
2002: 342nd most popular.
2003: 398th most popular.
2004: 402nd most popular.