Katherine
Meaning of Katherine
Katherine comes from the Greek name Aikaterine, whose origin is uncertain. It has long been associated with katharos, the Greek word for pure, which explains the th in its spelling. It is pronounced KATH-rin.
Devotion to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, an early Christian martyr, made the name common in medieval Europe, and it was borne by Katherine of Aragon and Katherine Parr, both wives of Henry VIII. Later namesakes include NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, whose calculations were vital to the first U.S. crewed spaceflights, and the New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield.
In the U.S., Katherine was given to 11,625 babies in 1990, its biggest year, and reached its highest rank, 25th, in 1991. It has since become less common, leaving the top 100 in 2017, and in 2025 it ranked 186th, with 1,670 babies.
Pronunciation
English
- Pronunced as KATH-rin (/ˈkæθ.rɪn/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Katherine
| Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster, was the third wife of John of Gaunt, son of King Edward III. |
| Katherine Heigl is an American actress and model best known for playing Dr. Izzie Stevens on the ABC drama Greys Anatomy, a role that won her a 2007 Primetime Emmy. |
| Creola Katherine Johnson was a pioneering NASA mathematician whose calculations enabled the first US crewed spaceflights and who was among the first African American women scientists at the agency. |
| Katherine Mansfield - Kathleen Mansfield Murry was a New Zealand writer and critic, a key modernist whose work is celebrated worldwide and translated into 25 languages. |
| Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins performs operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre, and hymns. |
| Katherine Grace McNamara is an American actress and singer known for Shadowhunters, Arrow, The Stand, and the Maze Runner films, earning Teen Choice and People's Choice awards plus a Critics Choice Super Award nomination. |
| Katherine Clark is an American lawyer and longtime Massachusetts congresswoman who became House Minority Whip in 2023 after earlier party leadership roles and service in the state legislature. |
| Katherine Anne Porter was an acclaimed American writer whose short stories won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and whose 1962 novel Ship of Fools was a national bestseller. |
| Katherine Louise Rawls, later known as Katherine Thompson and Katherine Green, was an American swimmer and diver of the 1930s who won multiple national titles, Olympic silver on the three meter springboard in 1932 and 1936, and a 1936 bronze in the 4x100 freestyle relay. |
| American children's author Katherine Paterson, best known for Bridge to Terabithia, won two Newbery Medals, two National Book Awards, the Hans Christian Andersen and Astrid Lindgren career honors, and served as US National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. |
| Australian actress Katherine Langford broke out as Hannah Baker on the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, earning a Golden Globe nomination, and later starred in Love, Simon, Knives Out, Spontaneous, and Cursed. |
| Katherine Willis, Baroness Willis of Summertown - Katherine Jane Willis, Baroness Willis of Summertown, is a British biologist and Oxford professor focused on long term ecosystem change, former Director of Science at Kew, Principal of St Edmund Hall, and a crossbench life peer. |
| Katherine Applegate - K. A. Applegate is an American children's and young adult author best known for Animorphs, winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal for The One and Only Ivan, and writer of other series like Remnants, Everworld, and Roscoe Riley Rules. |
