Catharina

#8,977 in 2025Girls' name

Form of Katherine

Catharina has been given to 332 babies in the U.S. since 1948. In 2025 it ranked #8,977 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1989, with 14 recorded.

Babies named Catharina, 2025

1 in 301,000

Catharina over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Catharina: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Katherine

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Catharina means

Catharina is a form of Katherine.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Catharina → Katherine → Catherine. The family’s proposed meaning is “each of the two”, recorded in English with the source elements hekáteros.

Origin, language, and formation

Catharina is used in German and Swedish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Katherine and Katharina.

Pronunciation and spelling

In German, Catharina is pronounced [kataˈʀiːna].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 332 girls were recorded with the name Catharina between 1948 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 14 in 1989; its best national rank was #4,422 in 1955.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #15,590 in 2020 to #8,977 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Catharina?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 301,000; 11 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only: 1 in 146,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025: #8,977; of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 208,901 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Catharina sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 208,901 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Catharina. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Catharinas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Catharina was born before 1990 — so the typical Catharina is around 35 today.

Median birth year: 1990; About 35 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 19.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 30.4%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 327; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 19.0% of all recorded uses (63).

Is Catharina rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: +6,762; Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago: +6,613; Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 78.6%; Peak was 1989 (14)
Years since peak: 36; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 42.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #4,422; 1955

Spellings of Catharina

Catharina is not the most common spelling — Catherine is, with 83.9% against Catharina's 0.04%.

Catherine83.9%667,789
Katharine5.2%41,230
Catalina4.1%33,009
Catharine1.6%12,994
Catrina1.3%10,150
Katarina1.2%9,357
Cathrine0.97%7,716
Catarina0.50%3,965

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Catharina around the world

Where Catharina ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

England & Wales
2011–2019
#5,591
in 2019
Ireland
1973–1979
#523
in 1979
France
1930–2024
#6,520
in 2024
Norway
1880–2014
#545
in 2014
South Australia
1951–1971
#724
in 1971

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Catharina by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: #8,977
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Up 6,613
Best rank ever: #4,422; 1955
Peak year: 1989; 14 that year
First recorded: 1948
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 332
Count in 2025: 11

Names similar to Catharina

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Sibling names for Catharina

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Kacy Kala Ashely Anthony Alesha Shelbi Shelbie Portia

For a brother

Derrell Garrick Elizabeth Kelsey Bradly Arron Laron Brandan

Explore around Catharina

Top names of 1989, Catharina's peak year The 1980s in full Other names that peaked in 1955 Girls' names starting with C Catherine Variations & Nicknames