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The first name 
Katherine

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

The name Katherine is very popular!

The first name Katherine is one of the top 100 most popular girls names in the US – currently at #97 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Katherine, accounting for approximately 0.20 % of all newborn girls. In total, there are currently 612,396 people – children, adults and seniors – named Katherine 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
 
Katherine

What does the name 
Katherine mean?

The meaning of the name Katherine is ‘pure’ or ‘clear’ It is a derivate of the Greek word ‘katharos’ meaning ‘pure’, and is considered a strong, elegant, and timeless name.

A well-known young adult novel.. is entitled 'An Abundance of Katherines'. It was written by John Green and released in 2006.

A lot of famous people are called Katherine

An actress and producer

Katherine Marie Heigl (*1978)
This US-American actress and film producer is an Emmy Award winner who is probably best known for her role as »Isobel 'Izzie' Stevens« in the series Grey's Anatomy (2005-2010) as well as for her various movies including »First Time« (2007), »27 Dresses« (2008) and »The Naked Truth« (2009).

A mathematician

Creola Katherine Johnson (1918–2020)
Katherine was a mathematician of African-American descent. In 2015 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contributions to calculating the trajectories for the Mercury programme and the first manned flight to the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission.

A writer

Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)
The New Zealand-British writer and critic played a significant role in the modernist movement. The response to her rather small oeuvre was and is remarkably broad. Her work is honored around the globe, and has been published in 25 languages. Katherine Mansfield died of tuberculosis at the age of 34.

An iconic actress

Katharine Houghton Hepburn (*1907-2003)
Four Acadamy Award wins for Best Actress in a Leading Role make Katharine Hepburn the all-time winner in the acting categories. She played in various genres, including screwball comedy and literary drama. In 1999, the American Film Institute voted the American actress number 1 of the 25 greatest female film legends.

Go on a journey to places 
with your name

When you hear the name Katherine, you might first think of a woman or a girl. But did you know that there are also places with the name Katherine? Are you also called Katherine? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...

Katherine...

is a town in the Northern Territory of Australia. With a population of just over 6000, it is the fifth largest town in the Northern Territory.

A River

The »Katherine River« flows in the Northern Territory, Australia with its headwaters in Nitmiluk National Park.

Various Ships

The name of various ships of the British Royal Navy has been »HMS Katherine«.

A lake

Lake »Catherine« is a man-made lake in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

A nature preserve

There is a nature preserve in Jackson County, Ohio named »Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve«.

Katherine -
someone you can count on

Katherine 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 Katherine. This means that several girls named Katherine have witnessed major events such as the first Nobel Prize ceremony, the moon landing, the release of the first cell phone, or the turn of the millennium. This first name has been particularly popular for several years and was ranked as high as #26 in 1992 at the latest. Furthermore, the name has also been in the top 100 a number of times. This makes Katherine one of the most popular names of all time.

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

Katherine -
well known in all states of the USA, most popular in Alaska

There are only 537 different women’s names registered in every single state in the U.S., and Katherine is one of them. However, Katherine is not equally widespread in all states, but people in Alaska seem to particularly fancy this name – the 1,486 women called Katherine who live here are 0,780% of all female residents and push their name up to #15, easily placing it in the top 100 most common female names in Alaska.

Katherine has 9 letters 
and begins with a K

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter K is a real popular first letter for girls' names. That’s because 7.5% of all common girls’ names in the US begin with this letter. Only the first letters A, S and M are more common for girls' names.

With nine letters, the name Katherine 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 if 7.5% of all girls' names start with a K, this initial letter occurs more than twice as often as all 26 letters on average. Interesting detail: of all the girls' names that begin with a K, Karen is the most common.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Katherine

If your name is Katherine 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 Katherine

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

Koala

Apple

Tiger

Hat

Elephant

Rocket

Igloo

Nut

Elephant

This is how the name Katherine 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 Katherine in Braille?

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

Katherine

Katherine

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

Just use American Sign Language!

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

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

K
A
T
H
E
R
I
N
E

Have you ever waved the name Katherine

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.

K
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. Katherine sounds like this: