Kathryn

What Kathryn means

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

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, “Kathryn” (revision 93671903) and “Catherine” (revision 93813067), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Kathryn?

US: Falling: down from #318 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #831 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1951, when 8,460 girls got the name (#45 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 4,219 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 28,142 baby girls in England and Wales 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 AL (0.82 per 1,000 girls), SC (0.77 per 1,000 girls), PA (0.66 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Kathryn is #729 in the US and #2788 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 Kathryn were girls.

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

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Kathrine15 US
• Cathryn8 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 Kathryn

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”^*
• Christopher#68“carrier of Christ”^*
• Zachary#216“Yahweh has remembered”^*
• 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 Kathryn’s. Rank is US 2025.