BabyNameLens · Girl names · Boy names
“Variant of Catherine — Debated; possibly 'each of the two' (Greek), popularly linked to 'pure'” — Greek via French origin
Girl's name · #186 in the US (2025) · Timeless
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. Katherine's short forms are Kate, Kathy, Kay, Kitty, and Kat. About 650 girls a year are given Kate as their full name. 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. A popular twin pairing with Katherine is Elizabeth for a girl.
Around the world: about 1 in 2,000 girls in Canada (2024) · about 1 in 3,600 girls in Scotland (2025) · about 1 in 4,200 girls in Ireland (2025).
Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 44 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.
Among 1,412 notable people named Katherine:
Scientists & scholars appear 1.48× more often than among typical names — e.g. Katherine Johnson, African-American mathematician.
Similar names: Catherine · Bailey · Katerina · Jasmine · Veronica · Jacqueline
Browse more girl names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.