Presented by

The first name 
Catherine

Catherine is a female first name. In very rare cases it is also used for boys.

Catherine – known and loved in the US!

The name Catherine isn’t among the current fashionable names in our top 10 stats, but nonetheless, it’s still very popular and common. In our SmartGenius ranking of all girls names, Catherine ranks 192. Recently, out of every 10,000 newborn girls, approximately 10 were named Catherine. In total, there are currently 613,485 people – children, adults and seniors – named Catherine living in the United States, which is approximately 0.18 % of the entire population.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Catherine

What does the name 
Catherine mean?

Catherine is a French and English name, which derives from the Greek name Aikaterine. Its origin is unclear, it could for example derive from the Greek word ‘hekateros’ and would mean ‘each of the two’, or from ‘katharos’ meaning ‘pure’.

The name Catherine became.. popular in the Middle Ages because of Catherine of Alexandria, a Christian martyr in the early fourth century.

Catherine -
someone you can count on

Catherine is the epitome of perseverance. Every year since first names have been registered in the U.S., parents have come up with the idea of naming their child Catherine. This means that several girls named Catherine have witnessed significant events such as the first Nobel Prize ceremony, the moon landing, the release of the first cell phone, or the turn of the millennium. The first name Catherine has reached its best rank of #18 multiple times, most recently in 1917. The name has also been in the top 100 for many years. This makes Catherine one of the most popular names of all time.

In years where the graph has no value, the name Catherine was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

Catherine -
at home all over the USA, especially popular in Delaware

Wherever you go, wherever you live – there’s a good chance to meet Catherine. Because: There are women and girls named Catherine in every state in the USA. This may sound quite unspectacular at first, but in fact, of the more than 50,000 different female first names that occur in the USA, just 537 are recorded in each individual state, so the name Catherine is definitely something very special. In some regions it even makes it into the top 100 of the most popular female first names, for example in Maryland, where Catherine ranks on place 16. The greatest chance of meeting Catherine, however, is in Delaware, where one in 136 girls and women bears this beautiful name – that is far above average – in the entire USA it is only one in 251 women and girls and in Utah, where the name is least represented in relation to the population, you even have to ask an average of 481 women and girls for their name before you once get Catherine as an answer.

Catherine has 9 letters 
and begins with a C

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter C is a frequent initial letter for girls' names. This is because 6.0% of all common girls’ names in the US begin with this letter. The most common first letters of girls' names, by the way, are A, S and M.

With nine letters, the name Catherine is relatively long compared to other names. In fact, 5.6% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly nine letters. 92% of all first names are shorter, while not even 2.5% of all boys’ and girls’ names use ten or more letters. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long with no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

That means that with 6.0% of all girls' names that begin with a C, this first letter is much more common than the average of all letters. And which girls’ name beginning with C do you think is the most common in the US? The answer is... Carol.

Other names with 
C, a, t, h, e, r, i, n and e

If you take all the letters in the name Catherine – C, a, t, h, e, r, i, n and e – and put them together again, you can form another name, such as Cahterine.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Catherine

If your name is Catherine and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Catherine

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Catherine, you can simply say:

Cat

Apple

Tiger

Hat

Elephant

Rocket

Igloo

Nut

Elephant

This is how the name Catherine is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Catherine in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Catherine

Catherine

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Catherine

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Catherine is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

C
A
T
H
E
R
I
N
E

Have you ever waved the name Catherine

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

C
A
T
H
E
R
I
N
E

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Catherine sounds like this: