Catherine
Feminine
Catherine is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 667,789 girls against 1,822 boys since 1880. See Catherine as a boy name
A woman with this name told a pope to go home and he went. She was a dyer's daughter from Siena with no education to speak of, she dictated letters to the most powerful men in Europe telling them what they ought to do, and one of the things she told the pope was that he belonged in Rome rather than in France. He returned within two years of meeting her.
How old is the name Catherine?
Catherine was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Catherine alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 390,000 people named Catherine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Catherine most popular?
Catherine peaked in 1914, reaching #18 nationally. Today it ranks #313, 295 places below that high. See the whole 1914 chart.
Where it comes from
From Aikaterine to Catherine
The story of Catherine
Six English queens carried the name and three of them were married to the same man. He worked through them in the space of about a decade — one divorced after twenty-four years, one beheaded at nineteen or twenty, one who survived him and remarried within months — and the name accordingly runs through the most turbulent stretch of English royal history at a rate no other manages. Two further queens carried it before and one after. It is the only name to have been on the English throne that many times and to have gone so badly so often.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name has no recoverable original meaning. The purity association came later, by resemblance rather than descent, and the earliest forms do not support it.
How the name formed
- Aikaterine
- Katharina
- Catherine
Related forms: Catherine · Caterina · Catalina · Caitlín
Pronouncing Catherine
KATH-ur-in
Three syllables with the stress at the front. The c is hard, as it is in every form of the name, so the two spellings sound identical.
Nicknames for Catherine
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 195711,151 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #18reached in 1914
- Change vs 2022
- −0.9%972 in 2025, from 981
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Catherine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Catherine in French — same name
- Caterina in Italian — same name
- Catalina in Spanish — same name
- Caitlín in Irish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Catherines among us
people named Catherine are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,654 born in 2025 was named Catherine
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Catherine
- #313
- Catherine on the 2025 chart
- #112
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Catherine went to 972 girls in 2025, but Katherine is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 2,651, which makes it the 112th most-given girls’ name of the year — 201 places above the chart.
- Katherine1,670
- Catherine972
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 606 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,654 for Catherine itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Catherine has held the top-100 across 12 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Catherine is headed
Catherine should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Catherine beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Catherine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has been in continuous use for well over a thousand years.
- The short forms are numerous and span several registers and languages.
- It is recognized across Europe with minimal change of spelling.
- The k spelling is equally standard and the choice is queried for life.
- No meaning can be given honestly, whatever other pages assert.
- Its peak was early enough to give the name some period weight.
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What they receive
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Catherine
Feminine · #313 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Catherines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 390,000 people named Catherine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Catherine?
- Catherine is one of 2 recorded spellings. Katherine is the more common one — 1,670 births in 2025 against 972 for Catherine.
- How popular is the name Catherine in 2025?
- Catherine ranks #313 among US girl names in 2025, with 972 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Catherine?
- About 1 in every 1,654 US girls born in 2025 was named Catherine — 972 in all.
- Will my child share the name Catherine with classmates?
- Catherine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Catherine
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Brooke#313 · Morgan#312 · Amina#315 · Tessa#311 · Colette#316 · Elodie#310 · Harlow#309 · Gabriela#317
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Catherine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Catherine and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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