Catherine - Meaning of the name

[ 3 syll. cat-he-ri-ne, ca-ther-ine ] The girl name Catherine is pronounced KAETHerahN or KAETHRIHN †. Catherine's language of origin is Old Greek. It is predominantly used in English and French. Catherine is a spelling variant of Katherine (English).

The short forms Cat (English) and Cath (English), the pet forms Cate (English), Catey (English), Cathie (English), Cathy (English), Catie (English), Caty (English), Karen (Dutch, English, German, and Scandinavian), and Katie (English), and the spelling variants Catharin (English), Catharine (English), Catheren (English), Catherin (English), Catheryn (English), and Katherine (English) are forms of the name.

Catherine is an all-time favorite. Currently it is still a popular baby girl name, but not to the degree it was in the past. Its usage peaked in 1914 with 0.831% of baby girls being named Catherine. It had a ranking of #18 then. The baby name has experienced a drop in popularity since then, and is of only modest use now. In 2008, it ranked at #149 with a usage of 0.111%, but it was nevertheless the 3rd most popular after Katherine and Katie, among all girl names in its family. The name was twice as popular as Catherine in 2008. The name Catherine has been mainly given to girls, although it has also been used as a boy name in the last century. There were 129 times as many girls than boys who were named Catherine in 1908.

Baby names that sound like Catherine include Cathérine (French), Catharine (English), Katharine (English), Kathryn (English and German), Kathrynn (English), Kathrynne (English), Caterina (English and Italian), Caterine (English), Catharina (Dutch, German, Scandinavian, and English), Catharyn, Catharyne, Catheren (English), Catherin (English), Catheryn (English), Cathrina (German), Catrina (English), Katharyn (English), Katherin (English), Katherine (English), and Katheryn (English).

Details of famous persons named Catherine:
Actress Catherine Bach, born Catherine Bachman 1 March 1954, Warren, Ohio.
Actress Catherine Deneuve, born Catherine Dorléac 22 October 1943, Paris, France.
Actress Catherine Keener, born 26 March 1960, Miami, Florida.
Actress Catherine O'Hara, born 4 March 1954, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, born 25 September 1969.
Royalty Catherine of Aragon, born 16 December 1485 - 7 January 1536, Alcala de Henares, Spain.

† Pronunciation for Catherine: K as in "key (K.IY)" ; AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; TH as in "theta (TH.EY.T.AH)" ; ER as in "hurt (HH.ER.T)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; K as in "key (K.IY)" ; AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; TH as in "theta (TH.EY.T.AH)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"

Popularity Trend
for Catherine
from 1900 to 2008

Variant Popularity Chart
for Catherine
in 2008