Katharine
Feminine
Katharine is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 41,230 girls against 11 boys since 1880.
Katharine is the older English spelling of a name that has been rewritten more often than almost any other: Catherine, Katherine, Kathryn, Catharine. The th in the middle is the part that carries the history.
How old is the name Katharine?
Katharine was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Katharine alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 28,500 people named Katharine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Katharine most popular?
Katharine peaked in 1880, reaching #171 nationally. Today it ranks #4878, 4,707 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aikaterine to Katharine
The story of Katharine
The name reached Europe through Catherine of Alexandria, an early Christian martyr whose cult was enormous in the medieval West; the wheel she was tortured on gave its name to a firework. Crusaders brought the name back and it became one of the standard women's names of England, France and Russia at once. The spelling with a K and a th is the older English form, and it survived alongside the C spellings rather than being replaced by them.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
The Greek Aikaterine has no secure derivation. It was linked early to katharos, 'pure', and the spelling with th is the result of that association rather than its cause — the h was inserted to make the connection visible. Whether the original name meant anything of the kind is not known.
How the name formed
- Aikaterine
- Katharina
- Katharine
Related forms: Katharina · Yekaterina · Catherine · Caterina · Catalina
Pronouncing Katharine
KATH-uh-rin
Three syllables in careful speech, often two in ordinary speech. The th is soft and the middle syllable is frequently swallowed.
Nicknames for Katharine
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 1984852 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #171reached in 1880
- Change vs 2022
- −35.7%27 in 2025, from 42
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.
Katharine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Katharina in German — same name
- Yekaterina in Russian — same name
- Catherine in French — spelling variant
- Caterina in Italian — same name
- Catalina in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Katharines among us
people named Katharine are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 59,528 born in 2025 was named Katharine
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Katharine 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 Katharine is headed
Katharine is easing off slowly — about 22% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Katharine beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Katharine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An exceptionally deep set of short forms — Kate, Katie, Kitty, Katya — with genuinely different characters.
- It exists as a standard name in English, German, French, Russian, Italian and Spanish at once, which very few names manage.
- Continuous documented use for the better part of a thousand years.
- The spelling is the whole difficulty: Katharine, Katherine, Catherine, Kathryn and Catharine are all standard, and a bearer will spell it aloud for life.
- The connection to 'pure' is a medieval reinterpretation rather than an etymology, so a family choosing it for the meaning should know the meaning was attached later.
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What they receive
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Katharine
Feminine · #4878 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Katharines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 28,500 people named Katharine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Katharine in 2025?
- Katharine ranks #4878 among US girl names in 2025, with 27 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Katharine?
- About 1 in every 59,528 US girls born in 2025 was named Katharine — 27 in all.
- Will my child share the name Katharine with classmates?
- Katharine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Katharine
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Maribelle#4878 · Evangelia#4878 · Pari#4878 · Zoraya#4878 · Saba#4878 · Chyna#4878 · Odyssey#4878 · Zana#4878
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Katharine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Katharine and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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