Cathal

name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"cathal" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Cathal” is uncommon English (frequency #78,459 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,459
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A male given name from Irish.

Corpus desk

Index EN-cathal · Cathal · English

Cathal · rank #78,459 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,459
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH Carpathians

Nearest frequency peer: Carpathians (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “Cathal”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “Cathal” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Cathal
PropertyValue
HeadwordCathal
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters6
Frequency rank#78,459
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “Cathal” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).Cathalfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Carpathians” (#78,458), “carn” (#78,457), “Catullus” (#78,461). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “Cathal” is #78,459. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Cathal is uncommon English at frequency #78,459 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A male given name from Irish.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Cathal, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Irish Cathal. The correct English form is Cathal, spelled C-A-T-H-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    A male given name from Irish.

Etymology

Borrowed from Irish Cathal.

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Cathal"?
"Cathal" is spelled C-A-T-H-A-L.
What does "Cathal" mean?
As a proper noun, "Cathal" means: A male given name from Irish.
What is the origin of the word "Cathal"?
Borrowed from Irish Cathal. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Cathal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

carafe#78,454cloaca#78,478bridie#78,432blonds#78,417

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list