MEANING & HISTORY
What does Kathy mean?
Kathy is formed from Kath with the familiar ending -y and is recorded as a short form of Katherine or Kathleen. Tagalog specifically documents borrowing through English and independent given-name use.
These immediate formations should be distinguished from the older Catherine-family root, whose derivation is debated. The traditional purity association is not an unquestionable original meaning. Kathy and Cathy are different established spellings, and the familiar ending does not mean a recorded Kathy must be replaced with a longer form in adulthood.
Pronunciation & syllables
Synthetic voice reading
Wiktionary / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Tagalog / English
Dictionary accounts by language
Tagalog
Borrowed from English Kathy.
a diminutive of the female given names Katherine and Kathleen, from English, also used as a formal given name.
English
From Kath + -y.
A diminutive of the female given names Katherine and Kathleen, also used as a formal given name.
Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract; common glosses translated for Filipino.
People with the name Kathy
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Katy de la Cruz
Filipino singer and actress (1907–2004)
Descriptions: Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Similar names to Kathy
Explore names with a similar opening or ending.
Names in this collection
- Cathy♀Familiar form of Catherine
- Katy♀Katherine-family short form; variant of Katie
- Kaloy♂Carlo with the familiar ending y
- Kanoy♂Kano with oy, from Nicanor
- Kat♂♀Familiar form of Katharine or Katherine
- Kata♀Short form of Katalin, Katariina or Katarina
- Kate♀Short form of Katherine or Catherine
- Kathryn♀Contracted form of Katherine
What rhymes with Kathy?
Dictionary rhyme matches for the readings shown.
Explore Kathy further
Records & sources
Recorded use
- Wikidata
- 1 person records with this given name · Q1561114 · CC0
These records document use of the spelling; they are separate from birth statistics.