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Cathryn

#11,131 in 2025Girls' name

Possibly each of the two, through Catherine

Cathryn has been given to 16,332 babies in the U.S. since 1882. In 2025 it ranked #11,131 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1956, with 368 recorded.

Babies named Cathryn, 2025

1 in 414,000

Cathryn over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Cathryn: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly each of the two, through Catherine

Ancient Greek

What Cathryn means

Cathryn belongs to the name family reached through Cathryn → Catherine. Its meaning is “each of the two”.

Origin, language, and formation

Cathryn is used in English. Its origins include Ancient Greek.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Catherine.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 16,332 girls were recorded with the name Cathryn between 1882 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 368 in 1956; its best national rank was #450 in 1950.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,898 in 2020 to #11,131 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,748 in 2015 to #11,131 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 Cathryn?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 414,000
8 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 201,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#11,131
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
287,238 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Cathryn 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 287,238 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cathryn. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Cathryns were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cathryn was born before 1959 — so the typical Cathryn is around 66 today.

Median birth year
1959
About 66 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
20.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
9.0%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
11,230
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 20.0% of all recorded uses (3,271).

Is Cathryn 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
−4,449
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−5,233
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−8,383
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.13×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
2.2%
Peak was 1956 (368)
Years since peak
69
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
26.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#450
1950

Spellings of Cathryn

Cathryn is not the most common spelling — Kathryn is, with 61.9% against Cathryn's 2.2%.

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.

Where Cathryn is used

Across 1910–2025, Cathryn was most concentrated in Illinois — about 1 in 10,000 girls, against 1 in 15,756 across all states with data. It was least common in Arizona (1 in —).

010 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Illinois1 in 10,000
  2. 2California1 in 11,111
  3. 3Ohio1 in 11,111
  4. 4Texas1 in 11,111
  5. 5Georgia1 in 12,500
  6. 6Michigan1 in 12,500
  7. 7Minnesota1 in 12,500
  8. 8Pennsylvania1 in 12,500

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Cathryn has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Cathryn around the world

Where Cathryn 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
    1996–2017
    #5,765
    in 2017
  • Scotland
    1974–1997
    #653
    in 1997
  • Northern Ireland
    1998–1999
    #344
    in 1999
  • Ireland
    1971–1989
    #445
    in 1989
  • Canada
    1991–2009
    #3,263
    in 2009
  • South Australia
    1945–2009
    #818
    in 2009

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Cathryn

People whose public names include Cathryn, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Cathryn in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Cathryn. Linked forms have their own page here.

KateKatyCarinCathyKarenKarinKathyKatiaKatieKatjaKatriKatyaCathieCatrinKareenKathieKatrinKatalinKathrynKatrinaKatrineCatalinaCatarinaCaterina

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Cathryn by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#11,131
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 5,233
Best rank ever
#450
1950
Peak year
1956
368 that year
First recorded
1882
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
16,332
Count in 2025
8

Names similar to Cathryn

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

CatrinaCatherynCataleyaCathleenCatalinaKatherynCatarinaLaurynKamrynCaterinaCamrynCathrineCattleyaCatharineCamerynCathieTarynCatelynKamerynCatinaCathyCatalayaCathernCathey

Names with a curve like Cathryn

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Cathryn, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

KathrineJanetteGeorgetteMartaJeanieMimiDinahCherryRositaLucindaCharmaineRae

Sibling names for Cathryn

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

Explore around Cathryn

Top names of 1956, Cathryn's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1950Girls' names starting with CCatherine Variations & Nicknames