Head to head · Girls' names
Katalina vs London
#430 vs #431 in 2025
Katalina is a whisker ahead (#430 vs #431 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Katalina is climbing the charts fast, London is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
The tape is even: Katalina and London each lead 3 measures of 6.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1960s: Katalina —, London #4711 — London higher
- 1970s: Katalina #8804, London #4114 — London higher
- 1980s: Katalina #7982, London #2946 — London higher
- 1990s: Katalina #3258, London #1132 — London higher
- 2000s: Katalina #1900, London #541 — London higher
- 2010s: Katalina #928, London #121 — London higher
- 2020s: Katalina #485, London #301 — London higher
London stood higher in every recorded decade — 7 of 7.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Katalina | London |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | — | #4711 |
| 1970s | #8804 | #4114 |
| 1980s | #7982 | #2946 |
| 1990s | #3258 | #1132 |
| 2000s | #1900 | #541 |
| 2010s | #928 | #121 |
| 2020s | #485 | #301 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Katalina
Uncertain in its oldest layer; long associated with Greek 'katharos', pure
The Greek original, Aikaterine, has no agreed source — it may connect to the name Hekate, but that is not settled. What is documented is that early Christian writers reshaped the spelling toward katharos, 'pure', and that reading has traveled with the name ever since. So there are two honest answers: an unexplained ancient name, and the 'pure' meaning attached to it centuries later.
Aikaterine → Catharina → Catalina → Katalin → Katalina
How it traveled
The line begins with Greek Aikaterine, borne by Saint Catherine of Alexandria, whose cult spread through the medieval Mediterranean and made the name one of the most widely borrowed in Europe. Latin Catharina gave Spanish and Catalan Catalina, Hungarian Katalin, Basque Katalin and Katalina, Italian Caterina, and English Katherine and Catherine.
London
From the city of London; the city name's own meaning is not settled
Londinium is the oldest recorded form, and it is pre-Roman rather than Latin in origin. The reading with the most scholarly support today, argued by the place-name specialist Richard Coates, traces it to a Brittonic river name meaning something like 'the flowing one' or 'river too wide to ford.' Older explanations tried to find a personal name or a word for a hill fort in it. None has won the argument outright.
Londinium → Lundenwic → Lunden → London
How it traveled
The name begins as a settlement the Romans established on the Thames and called Londinium; the word itself is older than their arrival and its sense was already obscure by then. Through the Anglo-Saxon centuries it moved through Lundenwic and Lunden before settling into the spelling used now.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Katalina
kah-tah-LEE-nah
Spanish speakers give all four syllables even weight with the stress on LEE; many English speakers flatten the first vowels to kat-uh-LEE-nuh. Both are heard, and neither needs correcting.
- Kat — Informal and widely used across the whole Katherine family; also stands alone.
- Katie — Informal; a long-established given name in its own right in English.
- Lina — Takes the ending rather than the beginning; a standalone name in several European languages.
- Kata — Informal; the usual short form in Hungarian and Croatian usage.
- Also Cata, Kat-Kat.
London
LUN-dun
Stress on the first syllable. The o's both sound like the u in 'sun' — the spelling looks nothing like the sound, but the city has taught the whole English-speaking world how to say it.
- Lo — The most common informal short form, used at home and among friends.
- Lon — Informal clipping; also an independent given name in its own right, mostly among older generations of men.
- Lonnie — Casual diminutive; stands alone as a given name too, where it usually comes from Alonzo rather than London.
- Donnie — An affectionate family-made form drawn from the second syllable rather than the first; heard rarely and only informally.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Katalina if you want…
- a name on the way upup 127 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itKatalina runs 4 syllables, London 2
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Kat, Katie and Lina
Choose London if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsLondon is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesLondon is 2 syllables to Katalina's 4
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Katalina
Strengths
- Belongs to one of the best-documented name families in Europe, so its history and its relatives are easy to point to.
- Comes with several ready-made short forms — Kat, Katie, Lina, Kata — spanning formal and casual use.
- Recognizable in Spanish, Basque, Hungarian, Italian and English-speaking settings without needing to change shape.
To consider
- Catalina is the spelling most Americans expect, so Katalina will be written with a C fairly often. Worth deciding early whether that is a correction you want to make every time or one you let pass.
- The rise is very recent, which means most people carrying this exact spelling are children. If you like a name with older namesakes in living memory, this one has them only under other spellings.
- Catalina Island and Catalina dressing are both well known in the US, and the ear may reach for them first. The K spelling puts a little distance between the two, but not a wall.
London
Strengths
- Spelling and pronunciation are already known to almost everyone who reads English — no repeating, no correcting at the pharmacy counter.
- Recognizable in most languages, since the city carries its own name into French, Spanish, Italian and beyond.
- Works for a girl or a boy on the same spelling, with no change in form.
To consider
- Landon is a well-established boys' name that sits one vowel away, and the two get swapped in writing and in hearing. Expect to spell it out on forms more than the name's fame would suggest.
- Most children with this spelling are girls, so a boy named London will sometimes be assumed female on a roster or an email — usually a one-time correction, but a recurring one.
- It is unmistakably a place, and a famous one. Some people will ask about a family connection or make the 'London Bridge' joke; others will simply hear a name.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Katalina
51%chance Katalina feels dated by 2040
Katalina is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
London
68%chance London feels dated by 2040
London is coming down from a big peak (#85 in 2013). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Katalina and London in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Katalina and London?
Put both to the vote.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Four-syllable names that carry
- Eight-letter names with presence
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- Borrowed from the boys: names girls are winning
- all guides
Where Katalina and London each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Katalina or London — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Katalina or London?
- Katalina, in 2025: Katalina ranked #430 with 720 babies; London ranked #431 with 719 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Katalina or London?
- Katalina. Over the last five years Katalina moved up 127 places; London moved down 238 places.
- Which is the older name, Katalina or London?
- Katalina entered the US charts in 1971; London entered the US charts in 1963. On the American record, London is the older name.
- How many people are named Katalina and London?
- About 8,700 people named Katalina are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 44,000 people named London are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Katalinas or Londons in the classroom?
- Katalina will almost certainly be the only one in school. London will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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