Catherine

Girl Ancient Greek #330 in 2023

Catherine is a girl name of Ancient Greek origin.

Meaning of Catherine

from Αἰκατερίνη, Ἑκατερίνη, of debated meaning, possibly from ἑκάτερος, or from the name of the goddess Hecate. The of the first syllable as well as the spelling with ⟨th⟩ in Latin languages, German and English, is due to a folk etymology, dating from Roman times, which associated the name with the Ancient Greek καθαρός.

Popularity of Catherine

Popularity, 1880–2023

933 births in 2023

1880 2023

665,847 U.S. births recorded from 1880–2023. Used for both boys and girls — see notes below.

Peak year

1956

12,076 babies

First recorded

1880

Earliest SSA data

Recent trend

Falling

Last 5 yrs vs. prior 5

Similar names

Also used in the conjoined name George Ann(e)

Steven

Boy · Ancient Greek

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Margaret

Girl · Ancient Greek

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Dorothy

Girl · Ancient Greek

The English form of Dorothea, the name of a legendary saint, from Δωροθέα, from t=gift + t=god

Timothy

Boy · Ancient Greek

Either of two books in the New Testament (1 Timothy and 2 Timothy) which are epistles to Timothy

Jason

Boy · Ancient Greek

From the Ἰάσων, from ἰάομαι

About this page

Popularity counts come from the U.S. Social Security Administration's national dataset. Etymology adapted from Wiktionary under CC BY-SA 4.0. If you spot an error, please let us know.