Katerina
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "pure" or "innocent".
Name Census estimates that about 7,648 living Americans carry the first name Katerina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Katerina today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Katerina births was 1998 (259 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Katerina. 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 Katerina with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
7.6K
~ 1 in 44,816 Americans
Peak year
1998
259 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,445
Tracked since 1954
Census
Katerina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,168 people with the first name Katerina, which placed it at #2,608 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
#2,608
National first-name rank
People counted
9.2K
9,168 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Katerina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Katerina is White at 77.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.0%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Katerina 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 Katerina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.7% · 7,126
- Hispanic or Latino14.0% · 1,283
- Two or more races3.6% · 332
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 269
- Black or African American1.4% · 125
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 33
Popularity
Katerina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Katerina from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,031 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Katerina remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Katerina 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 Katerina during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Katerinas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. California, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Katerina, while Utah, Nevada, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 200 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Katerina
The name Katerina is derived from the Greek name Aikaterine, which is a combination of two words: katharos, meaning "pure," and einos, meaning "one." The name Aikaterine was introduced to the Greek language through the cult of St. Catherine of Alexandria, a 4th-century Christian martyr.
The name Katerina gained widespread popularity throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly in Eastern and Central Europe, where it was adopted by various Slavic cultures. In these regions, the name was often spelled as Katarina, Kateryna, or Kateřina.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Katerina can be found in the Old Church Slavonic text "The Life of Saint Catherine," which dates back to the 9th or 10th century. This text recounts the life and martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria, further solidifying the connection between the name and Christian tradition.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Katerina. One of the most famous was Catherine the Great (1729-1796), the Empress of Russia, who was born Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst and later took the name Ekaterina upon her conversion to the Russian Orthodox faith.
Another prominent figure was Katerina Sforza (1463-1509), an Italian noblewoman and Countess of Forlì and Imola, known for her military prowess and her role in the Italian Wars of the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
In the world of literature, Katerina Ivanovna Ismailova is the protagonist of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel "The Village of Stepanchikovo" (1859), a character who embodied the author's exploration of female psychology and social critique.
The name Katerina has also been associated with several saints and religious figures throughout history, including St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), a renowned Dominican tertiary and mystic, and St. Catherine of Bologna (1413-1463), an Italian nun and mystic known for her devotion to Christ's Passion.
In the realm of art, Katerina Bilokur (1900-1961) was a renowned Ukrainian folk artist, known for her vivid and intricate depictions of flowers and natural scenes, which earned her international recognition and acclaim.
The name Katerina has endured throughout the centuries, carrying with it a rich tapestry of cultural, religious, and historical significance, spanning various regions and civilizations. Its origins in the Greek language and its association with the venerated St. Catherine of Alexandria have left an indelible mark on the name's legacy.
People
Katerina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Katerina as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Katerina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Katerina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,648 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Katerina 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 44,816 US residents.
Is Katerina a common name?
We classify Katerina as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,866 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Katerina most popular?
The single biggest year for Katerina was 1998, when 259 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Katerina is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Katerina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,168 people with the name Katerina, or 3.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,608 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 Katerina 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 Katerina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Katerina appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,171 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 Katerina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Katerina is White at 77.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.0%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Katerina most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Katerina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.7% (7,126 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 Katerina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Katerina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Katerina 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 Katerina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Katerina 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 Katerina 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 people have the name Katerina?
Find out how many people have the name Katerina on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.