Girl · Ancient Greek
Catherine
Say it: KATH-rin
Meaning
Greek Aikaterinē, of unknown origin. Its link to katharos 'pure' is a later folk etymology that changed the Latin spelling to Katharina.
Disputedsharp disagreement, or a popular meaning that is not supported.
Spread through Europe with the cult of Catherine of Alexandria after the Crusades.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1900s
In the United States
- 664,696 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1909, about 1 in 120 girls
- 1,144 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
Early ChristianEnglishFrenchSpanishItalianGermanPolishRussianHungarianAncient GreekGreekQuébécois
The family of the name
Other spellings: Katherine, Kathryn, Catharine
| French | Catherine |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Catalina |
| Italian | Caterina |
| Portuguese | Catarina |
| German | Katharina |
| Polish | Katarzyna |
| Russian | Yekaterina |
| Hungarian | Katalin |
Famous bearers
- Catherine of Alexandria, legendary martyr
- Catherine of Siena, 14th-century saint
- Catherine the Great, empress of Russia
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Royal and noble genealogies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.