Catalina
The story
Catalina is the Spanish form of Katherine, worn by queens of Aragon and Castile centuries before it was an island off Los Angeles. The traditional reading is pure, a polish the Middle Ages applied to an older Greek name whose true origin is genuinely murky. Its American record is patient: on the books every decade since the 1890s, mostly in the hundreds, sustained by Spanish-speaking families. Then the climb, unbroken since the 1940s, gathered speed: about 2,200 in the 1990s, 3,700 in the 2000s, 9,400 in the 2010s, and 11,900 so far this decade, already past the full 2010s count. Every one of them, effectively, a girl. The island association only helps; it makes the name feel like a place you would want to be from. Cata, Lina and Cat do the everyday work, as our nickname records note.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Catalina peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
448 people · the #14,428 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 500,000 · median age 43
Among people named Catalina living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 28 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Catalina
Most people given the name Catalina in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Catalina deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Catalina truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Catalina fits with your family’s names and surname.
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