girl's name
Katie
KAY-tee
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 328,901
the United States
#646
2025 births
Katie is a girl's name of Greek origin, a diminutive of Katherine whose meaning has never been settled. It ranks 42nd in Ireland and 49th in Northern Ireland, and it is falling in both.
- Katie is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1986, when 8,371 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 7,417 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Katie 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 | 3,907 |
| 1890s | 5,183 |
| 1900s | 5,309 |
| 1910s | 8,436 |
| 1920s | 9,443 |
| 1930s | 7,000 |
| 1940s | 6,192 |
| 1950s | 5,257 |
| 1960s | 5,216 |
| 1970s | 17,523 |
| 1980s | 73,125 |
| 1990s | 49,527 |
| 2000s | 30,638 |
| 2010s | 11,704 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,324 |
What Katie means
Katie inherits Katherine's meaning, which is genuinely unresolved. Pure is the answer nearly every source gives, but that reading was attached later by association with the Greek katharos and is not the name's actual derivation.
Where Katie comes from
Katie is a diminutive of Katherine, from the Greek Aikaterine, a name whose origin is unknown. It may relate to Hekate, the goddess, or to a Greek word for each, and neither can be demonstrated. What is documented is what happened next: early Christian writers connected the name to katharos, pure, and the spelling shifted from Aikaterine to Katharina to match. That is a folk etymology written into the record, and pure has been the standard gloss ever since despite resting on nothing earlier. Saint Catherine of Alexandria, martyred by tradition in the fourth century, carried the name into every European language, and her wheel gives the Catherine wheel its name. Katie has been used as an independent registration since the nineteenth century rather than only as a short form.
Katie in use
Katie ranks 42nd in Ireland with 107 births in 2025 and 49th in Northern Ireland, holding on in both markets well after its decline elsewhere — 646th in the United States, 655th in England and Wales. Our records mark it falling from a peak in 1986 and carry it from 1880.
How popular is Katie?
In 2025, Katie was given to 447 babies in the United States, ranking #646 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Katie 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 Katie
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Katie also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Katie over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Katie 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 Katie
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Katie — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Katie
What does the name Katie mean?
It inherits Katherine's meaning, which is unknown. Pure is the standard gloss but was attached later by association.
Is Katie short for Katherine?
Originally yes, though it has been registered as an independent name since the nineteenth century.
Does Katherine really mean pure?
No. Early writers linked it to the Greek katharos and respelled it to match, but that is a folk etymology.
How popular is Katie?
Forty-second in Ireland and 49th in Northern Ireland.
Is Katie a girl's or a boy's name?
Katie is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Katie?
Katie has 2 syllables.
Is Katie a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Katie currently ranks #42 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.