Katharine

Where Katharine comes from

A variant spelling of Catherine, based on the folk etymology that it would derive from Greek καθαρός (katharos "pure").
— Wiktionary's entry for Katharine
  • Ancient Greek
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year, and the peak
    #171 among girls with 76 babies — the first year on record, and still its best.
  2. 1907
    Katharine Hepburn born
    American actress
  3. 1940
    Katharine Ross born
    American actress
  4. 2021
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #4,413.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Ancient Greek.
Namesakes
  • Katharine Hepburn · American actress, 1907–2003
  • Katharine Ross · American actress, born 1940
  • Katharine McPhee · American recording artist, singer and songwriter, born 1984
  • Katharine Graham · American publisher, editor and author, 1917–2001
  • Katharine Isabelle · Canadian actress, born 1981

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.