Katherine
Meaning
linked since early Christian times to katharos, "pure," though the name's true root is older and debated; borne by saints, empresses of Russia, and centuries of English queens consort. The K-classic behind Kate, Katie, Kay, and Kitty
The story
Katherine is Greek, traditionally read as pure, and it enters history with Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the scholar of the old stories who out-argued fifty philosophers and gave her name to the spiked wheel. Empresses and queens wore it across Europe for centuries, and America has treated it with remarkable constancy: while other names rocket and crash, Katherine has held a steady, solid place in the records through every single decade since the 1890s, never a fad and never forgotten. Its bearers map the century, from Katharine Hepburn, who spelled it her own way, to Katherine Johnson, the NASA mathematician whose orbital calculations helped carry John Glenn around the Earth. That is the real story the chart below tells: not a spike, but a plateau of trust. Parents keep choosing Katherine because parents have always chosen Katherine.
Katherine around the world
One shared root links 26 names across 8 languages.
Shared root: from Greek Aikaterine, linked since early Christian times to katharos "pure", though the name's true origin predates that folk etymology
The constellation
19 more branches of this family
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Katherine peaked in the 1890s and the 1980s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
2,884 people · the #3,998 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 71,429 · median age 22
Among people named Katherine living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 324 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Katherine
Most people given the name Katherine in the United States were born between 1960 and 2009. The Katherine you meet today is most often in her 30s or 40s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Katherine deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Katherine 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 Katherine fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Names like Katherine · Nicknames for Katherine · Names of geniuses and inventors
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