# Cato (surname)

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

A surname from French.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | French |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 8,298 |
| US rank (2010) | 4,285 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 37,207 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.5% (7,940 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkeɪ.toʊ/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Latin Cato. A cognomen made particularly famous by Cato the Elder and Younger, members of the gens Porcia.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Cato 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) | 55% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 37% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.4% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 2.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Cato in the United Kingdom and the United States.

## People named Cato

- Molly Scott Cato, British economist and Member of the European Parliament (born 1963)
- Kelvin Cato, American basketball player (born 1974)

## Similar surnames

Cate, Coto, Catoe, Catt, Choate, Cathey, Cote, Cody, Cota, Cady, Cade, Cotto.

## 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.