Catheryn
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "pure" or "innocent".
Name Census estimates that about 1,037 living Americans carry the first name Catheryn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Catheryn today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Catheryn births was 1950 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Catheryn. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 330,525 Americans
Peak year
1950
31 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2019 SSA rank
#16,006
Tracked since 1896
Popularity
Catheryn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Catheryn from the 1890s through to the 2010s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 241 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Catheryn by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Catheryn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Catheryns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Catheryn, while Pennsylvania, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Catheryn
The name Catheryn is derived from the Greek name Aikaterine, which itself is a combination of the Greek words "katharos" meaning "pure" and "hegen" meaning "to lead". It was Latinized to Catherina and eventually evolved into the English form Catherine and its variants like Catheryn.
The name gained widespread popularity across Europe after being borne by St. Catherine of Alexandria, a 4th-century Christian martyr venerated for her courage and wisdom. She is said to have been highly educated and converted to Christianity as a teenager, leading to her martyrdom under the Roman Emperor Maxentius.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Catheryn dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in the Rotuli Chartarum, a collection of medieval English royal charters. During this period, the name was often spelled as Katerin or Katerine.
Notable bearers of the name Catheryn throughout history include Catheryn Howard (1520-1542), the fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England, who was executed on charges of adultery. Catheryn Parr (1512-1548), Henry VIII's sixth wife, was a prolific writer and advocated for the English Reformation.
In the 16th century, Catheryn de' Medici (1519-1589) was a powerful figure who served as the Queen Consort of France and later ruled as the regent for her young sons. She played a pivotal role in the French Wars of Religion and is known for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.
The name also appears in literary works, such as Catheryn Earnshaw, a character in Emily Brontë's classic novel "Wuthering Heights" published in 1847. In the world of arts, Catheryn Mansfield (1888-1923) was a renowned New Zealand writer known for her short stories and modernist style.
Another notable bearer of the name was Catheryn the Great (1729-1796), the longest-reigning female ruler of Russia, who presided over an era of territorial expansion, cultural renaissance, and Enlightenment ideals. Her reign is often regarded as the Golden Age of the Russian Empire.
People
Catheryn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Catheryn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Catheryn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Catheryn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,037 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Catheryn going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 330,525 US residents.
Is Catheryn a common name?
We classify Catheryn as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,733 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Catheryn most popular?
The single biggest year for Catheryn was 1950, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Catheryn is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Catheryn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Catheryn in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.