Entry № 1805 · Greek origin

Catherine Catherine — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ KATH-rin /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Greek
Meaning
"Pure"
Syllables
3
First recorded
Ancient (Greek)

A name that means "pure".

Catherine has been continuously used in English since the 12th century, when crusaders brought back devotion to Saint Catherine. The current Princess of Wales is also Catherine. Today the formal name sits in the U.S. top 200.

Pure. The name of empresses, queens, and saints.

The name in its native script.

Catherine
Transliteration
Catherine
Pronunciation
/ ˈkæθ.rɪn /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Catherine stands.

Catherine does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Catherines before her.

Real people
Catherine, Princess of Wales
Wife of Prince William.
born 1982
Catherine the Great
Empress of Russia, 1762–1796.
1729 – 1796
Catherine Hepburn
American actress. Four Academy Awards for Best Actress.
1907 – 2003
In fiction
Catherine Earnshaw
Heroine of Wuthering Heights.
1847 novel

Names connected to Catherine.

The number behind Catherine.

2

The Peacemaker

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Catherine reduce to 2, The Peacemaker. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.