Catherine

Where Catherine comes from

Borrowed from French Catherine, from Ancient Greek Αἰκατερίνη (Aikaterínē), *Ἑκατερίνη (*Hekaterínē), of debated meaning, possibly from ἑκάτερος (hekáteros, “each of the two”), or from the name of the goddess Hecate. The apheresis 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 (katharós, “pure”). The name belonged to a 4th-century saint and martyr from Alexandria who was tortured on the wheel from where the term Catherine wheel originates.
— Wiktionary's entry for Catherine
  • Ancient Greek
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1729
    Catherine II of Russia born
    eighth Emperor of Russia, called the Great, r. 1762–1796 (lived 1729-1796)
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #31 among girls — 688 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1917
    Peak, #18
    8,689 babies named Catherine — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1969
    Catherine Zeta-Jones born
    British actress
  5. 1973
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #67.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Ancient Greek.
Namesakes
  • Catherine II of Russia · eighth Emperor of Russia, called the Great, r. 1762–1796 (lived 1729-1796), 1729–1796
  • Catherine Zeta-Jones · British actress, born 1969
  • Catherine Deneuve · French actress, born 1943
  • Catherine O'Hara · Canadian-American actress, 1954–2026
  • Catherine of Alexandria · Egyptian missionary, saint depicted with a wheel, 287–305

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.