Kathryn

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Catherine in US United States, GB United Kingdom, AU Australia and 6 more, Екатерина in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, TR Türkiye and 2 more, Katherine in PE Peru, ES Spain, EC Ecuador and 1 more and Katarzyna in PL Poland, SE Sweden.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 11 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Kathryn is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name169K records spelled Kathryn10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, France, Brazil, Argentina

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French

  Also written Kathŕyn, Käthrŷñ, K̶a̶t̶h̶r̶y̶n̶

• German given name31K records spelled Kathryn3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Germany, Austria, United Kingdom

  Also written Kaethryñ, Käthryñ

57 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Kathryn is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, A female given name from Ancient Greek, variant of Catherine.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In German, in Deutschland seit den i96oer-Jah- ren vorkommender weibl. Vom., englische

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• American form of KATHERINE , now the most common spelling in the United States. It seems to have originated as a deliberate alteration for the sake of distinction, perhaps influenced by the suffix - lyn (see LYNN ).

  as a word

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Valerie Harperb. 1939USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress (1939-2019)
• Kathryn Bigelowb. 1951USAmerican filmmaker (born 1951)
• Kathryn D. Sullivanb. 1951USAmerican astronaut (born 1951)
• Patricia Kalemberb. 1957USnot in their usual nameAmerican stage and television actress
• Kathryn Erbeb. 1965USAmerican actress
• Kathryn Morrisb. 1969USAmerican actress
• Bridget Moynahanb. 1971USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress and model
• Kathryn Hahnb. 1973USAmerican actress (born 1973)
• Juliet Hartleyb. 1990GBnot in their usual nameBritish-French actress and producer
• Kathryn Newtonb. 1997USAmerican actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 901 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Kathryn?

We estimate roughly 2.1 million people bear Kathryn (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Kathryn have the most bearers?

Kathryn is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled екатерина.

Where is Kathryn most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Kathryn is densest in the Czechia — about 1 in 45 people — even though Russia holds more of our records for it.

How common is Kathryn compared with other names?

In Russia, Kathryn is the 16th most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Kathryn a male or female name?

Kathryn is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Kathryn mean?

Recorded meaning: ? Simplified form of Katheryn, now the KAYLEY most common version of jKatherine in the United States.