Kathyn
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "pure" or "innocent".
Name Census estimates that about 12 living Americans carry the first name Kathyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kathyn today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kathyn births was 1962 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kathyn. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Kathyn is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Kathyns were born before 1969.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kathyn. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
12
~ 1 in 28,562,862 Americans
Peak year
1962
6 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
1962 SSA rank
#6,191
Tracked since 1954
Census
Kathyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 226 people with the first name Kathyn, which placed it at #35,529 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
#35,529
National first-name rank
People counted
226
226 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kathyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kathyn is White at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Black (4.0%). 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 Kathyn 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 Kathyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.6% · 198
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 11
- Black or African American4.0% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
- Two or more races1.3% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 2
Popularity
Kathyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kathyn from the 1950s through to the 1960s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 10 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Kathyn remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kathyn 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 Kathyn 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 Kathyn
The name Kathyn is a variant spelling of the name Katherine, which originates from the Greek name Aikaterine. This name derives from the Greek words "katharos" meaning "pure" and "hekatos" meaning "each of the two." The name was introduced to England in the 11th century by Norman settlers after the Norman conquest of 1066.
Kathyn was a popular name among the nobility of medieval England. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is from the 12th century, when Kathyn of Aragon, the daughter of King Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, married King Alfonso VII of León and Castile in 1153.
Another notable figure from history bearing the name Kathyn was Kathyn Swynford, the mistress and later wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, in the 14th century. Their children were subsequently legitimized and became the ancestors of the Tudor dynasty.
In the 15th century, Kathyn of Valois, the daughter of King Charles VI of France, married King Henry V of England in 1420. Their son, Henry VI, went on to become King of England at the age of nine months.
Kathyn Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England, was a prominent figure in the 16th century. She was executed in 1542 for allegedly committing adultery.
Another notable Kathyn from history is Kathyn Parr, the sixth and final wife of King Henry VIII. She outlived her husband and was an influential figure in the English Reformation.
While the spelling "Kathyn" was more common in earlier centuries, the name has evolved over time to the more widely recognized spelling of "Katherine" in modern times. However, the variant spelling "Kathyn" has been used throughout history and continues to be used, albeit less frequently, to this day.
People
Kathyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kathyn 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
Kathyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kathyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kathyn 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 28,562,862 US residents.
Is Kathyn a common name?
We classify Kathyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 32.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kathyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Kathyn was 1962, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kathyn is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kathyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 226 people with the name Kathyn, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,529 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 Kathyn 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 Kathyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kathyn leans strongly female. 228 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Kathyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kathyn is White at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.9%) and Black (4.0%). 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 Kathyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kathyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.6% (198 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 Kathyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kathyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kathyn 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 Kathyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kathyn 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 Kathyn 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 Kathyn?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Kathyn at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.