How popular is the baby name Katherine in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Katherine.

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Popularity of the baby name Katherine


Posts that mention the name Katherine

Most popular lengths for baby names, 2016

The long and short of it is that U.S. parents don’t choose long and short baby names as often as they choose mid-length baby names. The most popular lengths for baby names in 2016? 6 letters, followed by 5 letters, followed by 7 letters…yet again.

Here’s a chart showing the length breakdown for girl names:

lengths, girl names, baby names, 2016, chart

The most-used girl names per length (from 2 to 10 letters) last year were…

And here’s the breakdown for boy names:

lengths, boy names, baby names, 2016, chart

The most-used boy names per length (from 2 to 10 letters) were…

Finally, here are both genders on the same chart:

lengths, boy names, baby names, girl names, 2016, chart

Here’s last year’s post on the top name lengths of 2015, if you’d like to compare.

Catherine vs. Katherine, state by state, 1910

In a comment on last week’s post about Providence’s baby name rankings from 1867, Diane brought up an interesting point: the list includes dozens of babies named Catherine, but not a single one named Katherine.

Curious, isn’t it?

Since I don’t have the 1866 and 1868 Providence rankings done yet, the next-oldest set of comparable data I have is the 1910 Rhode Island list from the SSA state data. So I used this data to check out the Catherine vs. Katherine preferences of not just Rhode Island, but all 50 states (plus Washington, D.C.).

Turns out that Rhode Island really did have a strong preference for Catherine. Of the 42 states that welcomed at least 5 baby girls with one name and at least 5 more with the other, Rhode Island was the state with the strongest preference for Catherine:

State% Catherine% KatherineWinner?
Rhode Island82% (31)18% (7)C
Maryland76% (100)24% (31)C
New Jersey75% (158)25% (53)C
New York73% (521)27% (191)C
Pennsylvania73% (568)27% (210)C
South Dakota73% (16)27% (6)C
Wisconsin70% (56)30% (24)C
Indiana68% (71)32% (33)C
Illinois67% (184)33% (91)C
Massachusetts65% (184)35% (97)C
Ohio65% (161)35% (87)C
North Carolina65% (60)35% (33)C
Missouri64% (85)36% (48)C
Florida62.5% (25)37.5% (15)C
Mississippi62% (32)38% (20)C
Kentucky61% (79)39% (51)C
Georgia60% (57)40% (37)C
North Dakota60% (21)40% (14)C
Minnesota60% (46)40% (31)C
Connecticut60% (41)40% (28)C
Oregon59% (10)41% (7)C
Nebraska59% (17)41% (12)C
South Carolina58% (31)42% (22)C
Vermont58% (7)42% (5)C
Montana58% (14)42% (10)C
Michigan58% (74)42% (53)C
California56% (53)44% (41)C
New Hampshire56% (9)44% (7)C
Louisiana55% (27)45% (22)C
Arkansas54% (19)46% (16)C
West Virginia52% (32)48% (29)C
Virginia52% (62)48% (57)C
Alabama51% (37)49% (36)C
Kansas50% (20)50% (20)tie
Iowa47% (32)53% (36)K
Wyoming45% (5)55% (6)K
Washington45% (19)55% (23)K
Oklahoma43% (18)57% (24)K
Texas42% (50)58% (70)K
Colorado41% (18)59% (26)K
Tennessee40% (43)60% (64)K
Maine38% (13)62% (21)K

Five other states and Washington, D.C., only welcomed at least 5 baby girls with one of the names, so I calculated some minimums:

State% Catherine% KatherineWinner?
D.C.at least 86% (28)?C
Delawareat least 76% (13)?C
Idaho?at least 56% (5)K
Hawaii?at least 64% (7)K
Arizona?at least 64% (7)K
Utah?at least 69% (9)K

Alas, Rhode Island no longer loves Catherine as much as it did in decades past. These days, Katherine is the winner. The switch happened during the early 1970s.

Which of these two versions of the name do you prefer?

Popular girl names: Biblical vs. Non-Biblical

The ratio of Biblical names to non-Biblical names in the girl’s top 20 is about the same today as it was 100 years ago, though the ratio did change a bit mid-century.

(In contrast, there’s been a steady increase in the number of Biblical-origin names among the top boy names.)

Here’s the color-coded table — Biblical names are in the yellow cells, non-Biblical names are in the green cells, and several borderline names (which I counted as non-Biblical) are in the orange cells:

Popular girl names: Biblical vs. non-Biblical.
Popular girl names over time: Biblical (yellow) vs. non-Biblical. Click to enlarge.
  • Biblical names: Abigail, Anna, Betty (via Elizabeth), Chloe, Danielle, Deborah, Debra, Elizabeth, Hannah, Isabella (via Elizabeth), Janet, Jean, Joan, Judith, Judy, Julie, Lillian (via Elizabeth), Lisa (via Elizabeth), Lois, Marie, Marilyn, Mary, Mia (via Maria), Michelle, Nancy (via Anne), Rachel, Rebecca, Ruth, Sandra (via Alexander), Sarah, Sharon, Stephanie, Susan, Tammy (via Tamar/Tamara)
  • Non-Biblical names: Alexis, Alice, Alyssa, Amanda, Amber, Amelia, Amy, Angela, Ashley, Aubrey, Avery, Barbara, Brenda, Brianna, Brittany, Carol, Carolyn, Catherine, Charlotte, Christina, Christine, Crystal, Cynthia, Diane, Donna, Doris, Dorothy, Edna, Ella, Emily, Emma, Evelyn, Florence, Frances, Gladys, Grace, Harper, Heather, Helen, Irene, Jennifer, Joyce, Karen, Kathleen, Kayla, Kelly, Kimberly, Laura, Lauren, Linda, Lori, Louise, Madison, Margaret, Marjorie, Megan, Melissa, Mildred, Natalie, Nicole, Olivia, Pamela, Patricia, Rose, Shannon, Shirley, Sofia, Sophia, Taylor, Tiffany, Victoria, Virginia
  • Borderline names:
    • Ava (could be based on the Germanic root avi or the Biblical name Eve)
    • Jessica (literary invention, but Shakespeare may have based it on the Biblical name Iscah)
    • Samantha (possibly inspired by the Biblical name Samuel)

Again, feels pretty weird to put overtly Christian names like Christina and Christine in the non-Biblical category, but oh well.

Here are the year-by-year tallies:

YearTop 20 names
given to…		# Biblical# Non-Biblical
191431% of baby girls6 (30%)14 (70%)
192431% of baby girls7 (35%)13 (65%)
193432% of baby girls9 (45%)11 (55%)
194435% of baby girls8 (40%)12 (60%)
195434% of baby girls9 (45%)11 (55%)
196424% of baby girls9 (45%)11 (55%)
197424% of baby girls8 (40%)12 (60%)
198426% of baby girls6 (30%)14 (70%)
199419% of baby girls6 (30%)14 (70%)
200414% of baby girls6 (30%)14 (70%)
201412% of baby girls5 (25%)15 (75%)

Just like with the boy names, though, there’s a big difference between the 1914 and 2014 sample sizes — 31% and 12%. So let’s also look at the 2014 top 100, which covers 31% of female births.

By my count, last year’s top 100 girl names were about a quarter Biblical, three-quarters non-Biblical:

Biblical names (27)Non-Biblical/Borderline names (73)
Isabella (via Elizabeth), Mia (via Maria), Abigail, Elizabeth, Chloe, Addison (via Adam), Lillian (via Elizabeth), Hannah, Anna, Leah, Gabriella, Sadie (via Sarah), Sarah, Annabelle, Madelyn (via Magdalene), Lucy (via Lucius), Alexa (via Alexander), Genesis, Naomi, Eva, Lydia, Julia, Khloe, Madeline (via Magdalene), Alexandra, Gianna (via Joanna), Isabelle (via Elizabeth)Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Ava, Emily, Madison, Charlotte, Harper, Sofia, Avery, Amelia, Evelyn, Ella, Victoria, Aubrey, Grace, Zoey, Natalie, Brooklyn, Lily, Layla, Scarlett, Aria, Zoe, Samantha, Audrey, Ariana, Allison, Savannah, Arianna, Camila, Penelope, Claire, Aaliyah, Riley, Skylar, Nora, Hailey, Kaylee, Paisley, Kennedy, Ellie, Peyton, Caroline, Serenity, Aubree, Alexis, Nevaeh, Stella, Violet, Mackenzie, Bella, Autumn, Mila, Kylie, Maya, Piper, Alyssa, Taylor, Eleanor, Melanie, Faith, Katherine, Brianna, Ashley, Ruby, Sophie, London, Lauren, Alice, Vivian, Hadley, Jasmine

Faith, Grace, Angela, Nevaeh, Natalie…all technically non-Biblical.

27%-73% is remarkably similar to both 25%-75% (smaller 2014 sample) and 30%-70% (1914 sample).

So here’s the question of the day: If you had to choose all of your children’s names from either one group or the other — Biblical names or non-Biblical names — which group would you stick to, and why?

Which “Seven Sisters” name do you like best?

Scene from the movie "The Seven Sisters" (1915)
Scene from “The Seven Sisters“

Katinka, Sari, Ella, Mici, Terka, Liza and Klara were the names of the seven sisters in the lost silent film The Seven Sisters (1915), which was based on a Hungarian play.

A 1916 advertisement for the movie, which was a vehicle for silent film actress Marguerite Clark, offered the following summary:

The story is as simple and as sweet and dainty as Little Marguerite herself. She is the fourth of a family of seven sisters. Under an old Hungarian marriage law she must not marry until the elder sisters have gone off. How she and her lover clear the way with the aid of that young man’s marriageable friends affords scope for some delightful comedy amid the quaintest and most beautiful old-world surroundings ever portrayed.

The names Katinka, Sari, Ella, Mici, Terka, Liza and Klara are Hungarian versions (or diminutives of Hungarian versions) of the names Katherine, Sarah, Eleanor (or some other El- or -ella name), Mitzi, Theresa, Elizabeth and Clara.

And now for today’s question…which Hungarian girl name do you like best? Why?

  • Katinka
  • Sari
  • Ella
  • Mici
  • Terka
  • Liza
  • Klara

Sources:

  • Bacon, George Vaux. “Seven Sisters.” Photoplay Magazine Sept. 1915: 112-120.
  • “Advertisements.” New Zealand Herald 21 Aug. 1916: 12.

Image: Clipping from Photoplay Magazine (Sept. 1915)