The name Katalina is derived from the ancient Greek name Aikaterine, which itself is a combination of the Greek words "katharos" meaning "pure" and "ennea" meaning "nine". The name Aikaterine is believed to have been coined in the 4th century AD, around the time of the early Christian church, as a name honoring the great Christian martyr Saint Catherine of Alexandria.

The name Katalina is the Spanish and Catalan variant of the name Katherine or Catherine. It first emerged as a popular name in Spain and the Spanish territories during the Middle Ages, likely influenced by the cult of veneration for Saint Catherine that had spread throughout Catholic Europe at that time. Records show examples of women named Katalina living in medieval Spain as early as the 12th century.

One of the earliest known bearers of the name Katalina was Katalina of Aragon, a 13th century Spanish noblewoman who served as the regent of the Kingdom of Aragon from 1276 to 1285 during the minority of her son, King Pedro III. Another notable Katalina from medieval Spain was Katalina of Lancaster, the Queen consort of Castile and Leon as the wife of King Henry III in the early 15th century.

As the Spanish Empire expanded in the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Katalina traveled to the Americas and other Spanish colonies, becoming commonplace among women of Spanish descent. A famous bearer was Katalina de Erauso, a 17th century Spanish noblewoman who escaped a convent and had many adventures while living as a man under the name Antonio de Erauso. She became known as the "Lieutenant Nun".

In Russian history, there was Princess Yekaterina Vorontsova-Dashkova (1743-1810), a prominent figure of the Russian Enlightenment era who served as the first female president of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The variant spelling Ekaterina also emerged in Russia due to the influence of the Greek Orthodox church.

Among other well-known bearers throughout European and Latin American history are the Dutch Golden Age painter Caterina van Hemessen (c. 1528-c. 1587), the Roman Catholic saint Catalina de Ricci of Florence (1522-1590), and Mexican Roman Catholic mystic Venerable Catalina de María Rodríguez (1823-1894).