girl's name
Kathryn
KATH-rin
- Origin Greek
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 470,028
the United States
#729
2025 births
Kathryn is a girl's name, the y-spelling of Katherine, and it inherits that name's genuinely unknown meaning. It ranks 361st in Northern Ireland and 729th in the United States, charting in five of our seven markets.
- Kathryn is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 1952, when 8,517 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 8,702 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Kathryn over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,276 |
| 1890s | 5,660 |
| 1900s | 8,333 |
| 1910s | 29,280 |
| 1920s | 33,868 |
| 1930s | 22,672 |
| 1940s | 44,683 |
| 1950s | 77,933 |
| 1960s | 44,988 |
| 1970s | 36,562 |
| 1980s | 62,723 |
| 1990s | 47,237 |
| 2000s | 26,359 |
| 2010s | 10,199 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 2,742 |
What Kathryn means
Kathryn has no securely known meaning, because Katherine does not. The reading pure was attached centuries after the name existed, by association with a Greek word it does not come from.
Where Kathryn comes from
Kathryn is a respelling of Katherine, which descends from the Greek Aikaterine — a name whose origin is genuinely lost. Early Christian writers linked it to katharos, pure, and the spelling shifted toward Katharina to match, so the meaning now universally quoted is a folk etymology that succeeded well enough to change how the name is written. The y-spelling is an American twentieth-century development, part of the same habit that gave Carolyn, Marilyn and Sharyn, and it replaces the unstressed vowel with a letter that better matches the sound. Katharine Hepburn used the a spelling; Kathryn peaked as the y form spread.
Kathryn in use
Kathryn peaked in the United States in 1952, when 8,517 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 361st in Northern Ireland on 4 births, 729th in the United States on 381, 835th in Scotland and 2841st in England and Wales, across 470,028 lifetime births in five of the seven markets we track. Catherine, the fullest spelling of the same name, charts in all six and holds more than twice the volume.
How popular is Kathryn?
In 2025, Kathryn was given to 381 babies in the United States, ranking #729 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Kathryn is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Kathryn
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Kathryn also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Kathryn over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
3 nicknames for Kathryn
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Kathryn in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Kathryn
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Kathryn — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Kathryn
What does the name Kathryn mean?
Not securely known. It respells Katherine, whose Greek original has no established derivation.
Is Kathryn the same as Katherine?
Yes, it is the American y-spelling of it, alongside Carolyn and Marilyn in that habit.
Does Kathryn mean pure?
That reading was attached centuries after the name existed, through an association with a Greek word it does not come from.
How popular is Kathryn?
729th in the United States and 361st in Northern Ireland.
Is Kathryn a girl's or a boy's name?
Kathryn is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Kathryn?
Kathryn has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Kathryn?
Kathryn is usually shortened to Kate, Kathy and Katie.
Is Kathryn a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Kathryn currently ranks #361 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.