# Cater (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/cater/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname originating as an occupation.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,926 |
| US rank (2010) | 8,419 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 78,641 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.4% (3,759 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Cator |

## Etymology

Occupational surname, from cater, obsolete form of caterer.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cater in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 76% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 18% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.4% |
| Two or more races | 2.2% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Cater in the United Kingdom.

## People named Cater

- John Cater, British actor (1932-2009)

## Similar surnames

Cotter, Cutter, Chowdhury, Couture, Chaudhry, Choudhury, Cuadra, Chaudhary, Coder, Choudhry, Choudhary, Chaudhari.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.