Catherine

What Catherine means

Possibly “each of the two”

Borrowed from French Catherine, from Ancient Greek Αἰκατερίνη (Aikaterínē), *Ἑκατερίνη (*Hekaterínē), of debated meaning, possibly from ἑκάτερος (hekáteros, “each of the two”), or from the name of the goddess Hecate.

Source: Wiktionary, “Catherine” (revision 93813067), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Catherine?

US: Falling: down from #177 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #263 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1914, when 6,613 girls got the name (#18 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,654 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 3,838 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 2,236 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DC (3.96 per 1,000 girls), AL (1.53 per 1,000 girls), KY (1.51 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Catherine is #313 in the US and #590 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Catherine were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

Wiktionary only lists the UK pronunciation so far.

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Katherine1,670 US · 40 E&W
• Katherin34 US
• Katharine27 US
• Katheryne9 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Catherine

Girls

• Nicole#382Form of Nicholas, meaning “victory + people”^*
• Christina#770Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 16,600 babies; 352 in 2025
• Alexandra#237“to defend + man”^*
• Alexandria#474Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #212 in 2015, #474 in 2025
• Andrea#235Feminine form of Andreas, meaning “manly”^*
• Angela#408“messenger, angel”^*

For a brother

• Zachary#216“Yahweh has remembered”^*
• Andrew#73“manly”^*
• Nicholas#112“victory + people”^*
• Steven#271“crown, wreath”^*
• Christopher#68“carrier of Christ”^*
• Timothy#203“to honour + god”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Catherine’s. Rank is US 2025.