Katerina
Feminine · “Traditionally read as "pure”
Katerina is the form Katherine takes across Greece and the Slavic-speaking world, and it has been spoken in one shape or another since late antiquity. The stress lands on the third syllable, giving the name a little lift in the middle — ka-tuh-REE-nuh — and it comes with one of the deepest benches of short forms in European naming: Kat, Katya, Katie, Kate, Katka. In the US it is familiar enough to read at a glance, uncommon enough that most schools hold just one.
How old is the name Katerina?
Katerina first appears in US birth records in 1954 — 71 years ago. The typical Katerina alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 7,900 people named Katerina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Katerina most popular?
Katerina peaked in 1994, reaching #807 nationally. Today it ranks #1427, 620 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Katerina appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Aikaterine to Katerina
The story of Katerina
The name begins in Greek as Aikaterine and spreads through the veneration of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, whose cult was enormous in the medieval church, East and West. Western Europe reworked it into Catherine, Katharina and Caterina; the Greek and Slavic worlds kept the harder middle, giving Katerina, Kateřina in Czech, and Yekaterina in Russian. Immigration carried all of these into the United States side by side, which is why Katerina, Katarina and Katherine all sit on American records at once. Its American strongholds — California, New York, Florida — are the same states where Greek, Balkan and Slavic communities have long been concentrated.
Meaningscholars disagree
Traditionally read as "pure"
The Greek original, Aikaterine, has no agreed source; scholars have not settled it. Early Christian writers connected it to Greek katharos, "pure," and that reading reshaped the spelling in Latin to Catharina and has been attached to the name ever since. So "pure" is the traditional meaning, but it looks like a later interpretation rather than the original one.
How the name formed
- Aikaterine
- Catharina
- Katharina
- Katerina
Related forms: Αικατερίνη (Aikaterini) · Yekaterina · Kateřina · Caterina · Katharina · Katherine
Pronouncing Katerina
ka-tuh-REE-nuh
Stress on the third syllable. Greek and Slavic speakers say it with a crisper middle, ka-te-REE-na. Some American speakers compress it to kat-REE-nuh, which brings it close to Katrina.
Nicknames for Katerina
High
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
- 1954
- Most girls named
- 1994250 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #807reached in 1994
- Change vs 2024
- −1.3%151 in 2025, from 153
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.
Katerina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Αικατερίνη (Aikaterini) in Greek — same name
- Yekaterina in Russian — same name
- Kateřina in Czech — spelling variant
- Caterina in Italian — same name
- Katharina in German — same name
- Katherine in English — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Florida.
Katerinas among us
people named Katerina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 10,644 born in 2025 was named Katerina
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Katerina
- #1427
- Katerina on the 2025 chart
- #770
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Katerina went to 151 girls in 2025, but Caterina and Kateryna are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 190, which makes it the 770th most-given girls’ name of the year — 657 places above the chart.
- Katerina151
- Caterina29
- Kateryna10
About 1 girl in 8,459 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 10,644 for Katerina 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
The Shawanda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Katerina's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Shawanda climbed just as high around 1977, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Shawanda's path sketches the road Katerina is walking now.
Katerina sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Katerina is headed
Katerina should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Katerina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Katerina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Instantly readable to English speakers even though the spelling is Greek and Slavic — no one has to guess at the letters.
- An unusually large set of ready-made short forms, from Kat and Kate to Katya, so a child can choose her own register.
- Works without translation in Greek, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Russian-speaking families.
- A documented line running back to late antiquity and the cult of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, one of the most widely venerated saints of the Middle Ages.
- The Katherine family is a spelling minefield: Katarina, Katherina, Ekaterina and Catarina all exist, so expect a lifetime of gentle corrections and a habit of spelling it aloud.
- Said quickly it can be heard as Katrina, which for many Americans calls up the 2005 hurricane. Clear stress on the third syllable keeps the two apart.
- With so many short forms available, she may be Kat by the second week of school whether or not that was the plan — worth deciding early which one you use at home.
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What they receive
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Katerina
Feminine · #1427 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Katerinas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,900 people named Katerina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Katerina?
- Katerina is the most-used spelling in US records — 151 of the 190 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Caterina and Kateryna.
- How popular is the name Katerina in 2025?
- Katerina ranks #1427 among US girl names in 2025, with 151 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Katerina?
- About 1 in every 10,644 US girls born in 2025 was named Katerina — 151 in all.
- Will my child share the name Katerina with classmates?
- Katerina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Katerina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sana#1427 · Roslyn#1427 · Evalyn#1427 · Desiree#1427 · Khadijah#1427 · Aracely#1427 · Zarah#1427 · Camden#1427
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Katerina? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Katerina and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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