Katerine
Feminine
Katerine is the name without its h — the way English wrote it for centuries before a Greek guess put an extra letter in the middle. It is one of the oldest women's names in continuous use in Europe, and it has been carried into places the medieval church never imagined.
How old is the name Katerine?
Katerine first appears in US birth records in 1938 — 87 years ago. The typical Katerine alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 900 people named Katerine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Katerine most popular?
Katerine peaked in 2003, reaching #3187 nationally. See the whole 2003 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aikaterine to Katerine
The story of Katerine
Two bearers show how far the name traveled. One is Catherine de' Medici, who arrived in France as a teenage bride from a banking family and spent forty years at the center of its politics — and who, among other things, imported the Italian court entertainment that combined dance, music and verse into a single staged spectacle. The evening she commissioned for a royal wedding is generally counted the first ballet. The other is Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk woman of the seventeenth century whose name is simply this one in her own language. She was canonized three centuries after her death, the first Native American saint, and her name is now given to children on both sides of a border she never crossed.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Greek original has never been explained. The reading of pure comes from a similar-looking Greek word and was attached to the name long after it was in use; the h that most spellings carry is a fossil of that guess. This spelling simply leaves it out, which makes it older rather than newer.
How the name formed
- Aikaterine
- Katerine
- Katherine
Related forms: Kateri · Catherine · Katharina · Catalina
Pronouncing Katerine
KATH-rin
Two or three syllables depending on how carefully it is said. Spanish and French speakers reading this spelling will say kah-teh-REEN, with the stress at the back.
Nicknames for Katerine
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
- 1938
- Most girls named
- 200650 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3187reached in 2003
- Change vs 2023
- +14.3%8 in 2024, from 7
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.
Katerine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kateri in Mohawk — same name
- Catherine in French — same name
- Katharina in German — same name
- Catalina in Spanish — same name
Katerines among us
people named Katerine are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Katerine sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It gives a child the deepest set of short forms of any woman's name in English.
- Every European language has its own version, so it travels without translation.
- The spelling is unusual while the name is completely familiar.
- The missing h will be added back by nearly everyone, for life.
- Katherine, Kathryn, Catherine and Katerine are all in use, which is four chances to get hers wrong.
- The pure reading she will be taught is a late guess, not a meaning.
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Katerine
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Katerines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Katerine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Katerine in 2025?
- Katerine is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Katerine with classmates?
- Katerine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Katerine? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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