MEANING & HISTORY
What does Katherine mean?
Katherine continues Greek Aikaterine through Christian and European naming traditions. Its ancient derivation is debated.
The connection with Greek katharos, pure, became influential in early Christian interpretation and even affected spelling. Pure is consequently a longstanding association rather than a universally settled original translation. Katherine and Catherine are established English variants within the same historical family.
References for this explanation
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.
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
A female given name from Ancient Greek, a popular spelling variant of Catherine.
Wiktionary: Katherine (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 Katherine
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
Katherine Luzuriaga
Filipino scientist
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
3
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Katherine Gordon, Katherine Luzuriaga
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Katherine in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Katherine
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
- Catherine♂♀From Greek Aikaterine, later associated with “pure”
- Katherina♀Latinate form of Katherine
- Cathrine♀Scandinavian contracted Katherine form
- Katharina♀German form of Katherine
- Katarina♀Form of Katherine, later associated with purity
- Kathryn♀Contracted form of Katherine
- Katrina♀English form of Gaelic Caitrìona, in the Katherine family
- Adeline♀Diminutive of Adela; noble
What rhymes with Katherine?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Explore Katherine 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 Q108631 — Katherine (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Katherine Gordon (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q108631 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Katherine Luzuriaga (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q108631 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Katherine (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Katherine (opens in a new tab)
Personal-name formation and etymological relationships; imported dictionary account consulted.
- Behind the Name: katherine (opens in a new tab)
Independent onomastic comparison and qualifications to the proposed origin.
- Wiktionary: Catherine (English) (opens in a new tab)
Consulted underlying source-name etymology for the stated roots or familiar formation.