The story in the numbers

649,238 girls have been named Katherine in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1990, with 11,627 births — 0.61% of all girls recorded that year.

It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 82 → 175).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1977, and the 1980s alone account for 15%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 132 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 1,824 boys have also been given it, 0.28% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Katherine

6,922

9,408

12,105

36,884

42,745

25,193

39,911

66,854

50,618

54,052

99,176

96,885

65,355

34,139

8,991

In 1990, its biggest year

Katherine was the 26th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1990 were Jessica, Ashley, Brittany, Amanda and Samantha. See all of 1990.

Names that rose and fell with Katherine

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.