ninan.org

Katherine

Girls' name · Millennial-era perennial

Living in the US
~488,000 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#186 among girls
Births in 2025
1,670 652,750 since 1880
Typical age
39 years, median

Katherine popularity over time

Katherine rank by birth year, 1880–2025Katherine ranked #53 in 1880 and #186 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #25, in 1991.#100#186best #25 in 199118901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

More children were named Katherine in 1990 than in any other year — 11,657 of them. It appears in the very first year SSA covers, 1880. It has held a top-100 place in 132 separate years.

As of 2025 the name sits at #186, with 1,670 births that year. Over ten years the count has fallen 52%.

Babies named Katherine per yearPeaks at 11,657 births in 1990.11,657 in 1990018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Katherine?

About 488,000 people named Katherine are alive in the United States today. That is out of 652,750 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Katherine?

The typical living Katherine is 39 years old. Most living bearers were born in the 1980s. By the site’s era rules that makes Katherine a millennial-era perennial name.

Your Katherine

Ages of living people named KatherineHalf of living Katherines are older than 39 and half younger.median 39020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Katherine is most common

Katherine is 3.0× as common in District of Columbia as it is nationally. Alabama, Mississippi and Virginia follow.

Where Katherine is used more than average5 states use the name Katherine more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: 1.6× the national rateVAMaryland: 1.5× the national rateMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: 3.0× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: 1.7× the national rateMSAlabama: 1.8× the national rateALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Katherine is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
District of Columbia 120 3.0×
Alabama 473 1.8×
Mississippi 238 1.7×
Virginia 739 1.6×
Maryland 465 1.5×

Katherine in England and Wales

ONS recorded 40 births named Katherine in 2025, ranking it #872. That is 45% lower than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Katherine comes from

English Wiktionary: given name from Ancient Greek.

Notable people named Katherine

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Katherine Johnson African-American mathematician 1918–2020 78
Katherine Heigl American actress 1978 70
Katherine Mansfield New Zealand author 1888–1923 69
Katherine Maher chief executive officer and president of National Public Radio 1983 66
Katherine Langford Australian actress 1996 48
Katherine Anne Porter American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist 1890–1980 47
Katherine Waterston British-born American actress 1980 42
Katherine McNamara American actress 1995 41
Photo credits (7)

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

How Katherine is usually spelled

Spellings within one or two letters of each other, and how 2025 births divided between them.
SpellingBirths in 2025Share
Katherine this page 1,670 62%
Catherine 972 36%
Katherin 34 1%

Names similar to Katherine

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Same feel, less common

The same matches, limited to names given at most half as often as Katherine was in 2025.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/katherine.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).