Kateryn
A feminine form of the Greek name Aikaterine, meaning "pure".
Name Census estimates that about 147 living Americans carry the first name Kateryn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kateryn today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kateryn births was 2006 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kateryn. 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
147
~ 1 in 2,331,662 Americans
Peak year
2006
13 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,590
Tracked since 1990
Census
Kateryn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 305 people with the first name Kateryn, which placed it at #29,174 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
#29,174
National first-name rank
People counted
305
305 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
88.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kateryn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kateryn is Hispanic at 88.2%. The next largest groups are White (9.5%) and Two or More Races (1.3%). 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 Kateryn 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 Kateryn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino88.2% · 269
- White9.5% · 29
- Two or more races1.3% · 4
- Black or African American0.7% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Popularity
Kateryn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kateryn from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 78 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
Kateryn 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 Kateryn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kateryn
Kateryn is a feminine given name derived from the Greek name Aikaterine, which itself is a combination of the Greek words "katharos" meaning "pure" and "hekatos" meaning "each of the two". The name is believed to have originated in the early Christian era, likely in the 4th or 5th century.
The name Kateryn spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly in England and France, where it was spelled in various ways, including Katherine, Catherine, and Kateryn. The popularity of the name can be attributed in part to the cult of St. Catherine of Alexandria, a 4th-century Christian martyr whose legend was widely disseminated in the medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kateryn can be found in the Domesday Book, a survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Caterina" in this record, indicating its use in England during the 11th century.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Kateryn or one of its variant spellings. One of the most famous was Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), the first wife of King Henry VIII of England, whose refusal to annul her marriage to the King led to the English Reformation.
Another prominent figure was Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589), an Italian noblewoman who became the Queen of France as the wife of King Henry II. She played a significant role in the French Wars of Religion and is known for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of Huguenots in 1572.
In the literary world, Catherine the Great (1729-1796), the Empress of Russia, was a patron of the Enlightenment and a prolific writer herself. Her memoirs, known as the "Memoirs of Catherine the Great," provide valuable insights into her life and reign.
The name Kateryn was also borne by Catherine Howard (c. 1523-1542), the fifth wife of King Henry VIII, who was executed for adultery. And in the realm of philosophy, Catherine Trotter Cockburn (1679-1749) was an English philosopher and playwright who wrote extensively on moral philosophy and the nature of human understanding.
These examples illustrate the rich history and cultural significance of the name Kateryn, which has been carried by queens, empresses, martyrs, and intellectuals throughout the centuries, each leaving their mark on the annals of history.
People
Kateryn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kateryn 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
Kateryn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kateryn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 147 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kateryn 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 2,331,662 US residents.
Is Kateryn a common name?
We classify Kateryn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 149 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kateryn most popular?
The single biggest year for Kateryn was 2006, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kateryn is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kateryn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 305 people with the name Kateryn, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,174 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 Kateryn 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 Kateryn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kateryn appears almost entirely female. Of the 305 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Kateryn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kateryn is Hispanic at 88.2%. The next largest groups are White (9.5%) and Two or More Races (1.3%). 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 Kateryn most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Kateryn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.2% (269 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 Kateryn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kateryn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kateryn 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 Kateryn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kateryn 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 Kateryn 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 are called Kateryn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.