Ekaterina
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "pure" or "unblemished".
Name Census estimates that about 967 living Americans carry the first name Ekaterina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ekaterina today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ekaterina births was 2005 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ekaterina. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ekaterina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
967
~ 1 in 354,451 Americans
Peak year
2005
43 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,684
Tracked since 1981
Census
Ekaterina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,308 people with the first name Ekaterina, which placed it at #3,363 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,363
National first-name rank
People counted
6.3K
6,308 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
94.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ekaterina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ekaterina is White at 94.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.2%) and Two or More Races (1.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Ekaterina described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Ekaterina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White94.5% · 5,960
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 136
- Two or more races1.7% · 105
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 81
- Black or African American0.4% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 3
Popularity
Ekaterina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ekaterina from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 375 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ekaterina 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 Ekaterina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ekaterinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Florida, New York recorded the most babies named Ekaterina, while Washington, Massachusetts, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 37 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ekaterina
Ekaterina is a Russian given name derived from the Greek name Aikaterina, meaning "pure". It originated from the Greek word "katharos", meaning "pure" or "clean". The name gained popularity in Russia after the introduction of Christianity in the 10th century.
The earliest recorded use of the name Ekaterina can be traced back to the 4th century, when Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a Christian martyr, lived. She is considered one of the most influential figures in the early Christian Church and is revered as the patron saint of philosophers, preachers, and theologians.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Ekaterina was Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She was born in 1729 as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst and took the name Ekaterina upon her conversion to the Russian Orthodox faith. Her reign is considered one of the most significant in Russian history, marked by territorial expansion, cultural achievements, and the promotion of Enlightenment ideals.
Another notable Ekaterina was Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (1847-1922), a Russian writer and translator. She is best known for her translations of works by Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and other English authors into Russian.
In the 20th century, Ekaterina Maximova (1939-2009) was a renowned Russian ballerina and choreographer. She was a prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet and later became the artistic director of the Vaganava Ballet Academy.
Ekaterina Gordeeva (born in 1971) is a Russian figure skater who, together with her late husband Sergei Grinkov, won two Olympic gold medals in pairs figure skating in 1988 and 1994. Their partnership and success on the ice made them icons of the sport.
While the name Ekaterina has its roots in Greek and Christian traditions, it has become a widely recognized and beloved name in Russia and the Eastern Orthodox world, with numerous notable historical figures bearing this name throughout the centuries.
People
Ekaterina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ekaterina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ekaterina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ekaterina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 967 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ekaterina 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 354,451 US residents.
Is Ekaterina a common name?
We classify Ekaterina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 982 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ekaterina most popular?
The single biggest year for Ekaterina was 2005, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ekaterina is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ekaterina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,308 people with the name Ekaterina, or 2.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,363 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Ekaterina in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Ekaterina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ekaterina appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,313 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Ekaterina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ekaterina is White at 94.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.2%) and Two or More Races (1.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Ekaterina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ekaterina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.5% (5,960 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Ekaterina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ekaterina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ekaterina 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.
Is Ekaterina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ekaterina in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Ekaterina can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many Americans are named Ekaterina?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.