Cathy is the English diminutive of Catherine — from the Greek katharos (pure). **A top-50 US baby name from 1949 to 1968, peaking at #28 in 1952**. **Cathy Guisewite (born 1950)** — **American cartoonist; created the syndicated comic strip *Cathy* (1976-2010) — one of the few nationally syndicated comic strips drawn by a woman; ran in 1,400+ newspapers at its peak; the four "basic guilt groups" — food, work, mom, relationships — became cultural shorthand**. **Reuben Award (1992) — the first female cartoonist to win the National Cartoonists Society's top honor**. **Cathy Hughes (born 1947)** — **American businesswoman; founded **Radio One** in 1980; in 1999 became the first Black woman to chair a publicly traded American corporation when Radio One went public on NASDAQ**. **Cathy Freeman (born 1973)** — Australian sprinter; 400m Olympic gold at Sydney 2000 — first Aboriginal Australian individual gold medalist; lit the Olympic cauldron. **Cathy Rigby (born 1952)** — American gymnast and Broadway *Peter Pan*. **Cathy Bates** is *Kathy* (with K).
Featured throughout late-20th century American culture.
Cathy reduces to one — the number of Aboriginal Olympic gold first.