Katherine

Meaning: Possibly each of the two; popularly linked to pure
Origin: Variant of Catherine · Greek; etymology debated (from Greek)

Nicknames: Kate, Kathy, Kay, Kitty, Kat

Girl's name · #186 in the US (2025) · Timeless

Popularity over time

Katherine holds its lane: charted since 1880 and rarely far from where it stands today (#186 in 2025). About 651,000 girls have carried it along the way. In all that time it has never once missed a year of the national records.

Across the states

See where Katherine is more common.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 44 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Around the world

See how Katherine ranks in other countries and regions.

#104 in Mexico (2024) · #266 in Ecuador (2025) · #591 in Scotland (2025) · #662 in Ireland (2025) · #885 in England & Wales (2025) · #399 in Canada (2024).

Famous Katherines

Katherine Johnson — African-American mathematician
Katherine Heigl — American actress (born 1978)
Katherine Mansfield — New Zealand author (1888–1923)
Katherine Maher — Chief executive officer and president of National Public Radio
Katherine Langford — Australian actress (born 1996)

In stories & tradition

Katherine (Kitty Pryde) — Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (TV series)
Katherine (Kate Austen) — Lost (TV series)
Katherine Pulaski — Vectors (book)

What Katherines become

Among 1,411 notable people named Katherine:

Scientists & scholars appear 1.47× more often than among typical names — e.g. Katherine Johnson, African-American mathematician.

Twin names

A popular twin pairing with Katherine is Elizabeth for a girl.

Spellings & nicknames

Together with its spelling variants Catherine (#314) and Kathryn (#729), Katherine would rank around #82 with about 3,000 births last year — the newborns split about 55/32/13 across Katherine, Catherine, and Kathryn.

About 650 girls a year are given Kate as their full name.

Similar names: Catherine · Bailey · Katerina · Jasmine · Veronica · Jacqueline

Browse more girl names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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