Katherine

What Katherine means

Variant of Catherine, possibly meaning “each of the two”

spelling variant of Catherine || 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, “Katherine” (revision 94540728) and “Catherine” (revision 93813067), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Katherine?

US: Falling: down from #84 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #263 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1988, when 11,154 girls got the name (#27 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 962 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 6,332 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 3,578 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 (4.46 per 1,000 girls), AL (2.78 per 1,000 girls), SC (2.41 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Katherine is #186 in the US and #872 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 Katherine were girls.

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

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Catherine972 US · 66 E&W
• Katheryn45 US
• 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.

Nicknames

• Kathy
• Kath
• Kate

Listed on Wiktionary under “diminutives”.

If you like Katherine

Girls

• Alexandra#237“to defend + man”^*
• Christina#770Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 16,600 babies; 352 in 2025
• Andrea#235Feminine form of Andreas, meaning “manly”^*
• Nicole#382Form of Nicholas, meaning “victory + people”^*
• Alexandria#474Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #212 in 2015, #474 in 2025
• Nancy#965Editor’s note More popular in England & Wales than the US: #78 vs #965 in 2025

For a brother

• Andrew#73“manly”^*
• Zachary#216“Yahweh has remembered”^*
• Christopher#68“carrier of Christ”^*
• Nicholas#112“victory + people”^*
• Steven#271“crown, wreath”^*
• Dennis#707“follower of (the wine god) Dionysus”^*

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 Katherine’s. Rank is US 2025.