THE MEANING & THE CONTEXT
The story behind Catherine
Catherine is explicitly recorded as a given name in Wikidata for Philippine citizens including Catherine Loyola, Janice de Belen. This snapshot links the name to 5 distinct Wikidata person records. The count describes Wikidata coverage, not the Philippine population or annual births.
The etymology is not settled. The explanation above keeps the source’s uncertainty rather than assigning a definite meaning.
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
English
- /ˈkæθ(ə)ɹɪn/General-American · Received-Pronunciation
Cath · e · rine3 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
Borrowed from French Catherine, from Ancient Greek Αἰκατερίνη (Aikaterínē), *Ἑκατερίνη (*Hekaterínē), of debated meaning, possibly from ἑκάτερος (hekáteros, “each of the two”), or from the name of the goddess Hecate. The apheresis of the first syllable as well as the spelling with ⟨th⟩ in Latin languages, German and English, is due to a folk etymology, dating from Roman times, which associated the name with the Ancient Greek καθαρός (katharós, “pure”). The name belonged to a 4th-century saint and martyr from Alexandria who was tortured on the wheel from where the term Catherine wheel originates.
A female given name from Ancient Greek.
Wiktionary: Catherine (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Catherine
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Janice de Belen
Filipino actress
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Catherine Loyola
Filipino model
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
1
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
5
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Catherine Loyola, Janice de Belen
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Catherine in the birth records
Exact spelling, stated year, published top-ten tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Available publications: 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. No 2021 count is inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Catherine
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Catherino·Recorded Philippine given-name form
- Cathrine♀Given name documented in Philippine-linked records; lexical meaning not established here
- Katherine♀Name formation documented in dictionary sources
- Katerine♀Given name documented in Philippine-linked records; lexical meaning not established here
- Adeline♀Etymology uncertain; see source accounts
- Angeline♀Name formation documented in dictionary sources
- Carina♀Name formation documented in dictionary sources
- Carlene♀Name formation documented in dictionary sources
What rhymes with Catherine?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Explore Catherine further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q2218095 — Catherine (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Catherine Loyola (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q2218095 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Janice de Belen (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q2218095 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Catherine (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.