The Baby Name Wizard

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Contribute to, or edit, this collection of community wisdom on the name Catherine!

Comments and insights on the name Catherine: | Edit

Three of King Henry VIII's wives were named Catherine. The name has always been somewhat popular, though more so in the middle ages than now, but expect it to gain some in popularity now that Catherine Middleton is the wife of Prince William and will likely be a future queen of England.

Personal experiences with the name Catherine: | Edit

My daughter's name is Catherine (2). We get a ton of compliments on it and call her by the full Catherine. We know a ton of girls that go by Kate or Katie, and we don't know any others that use the "C" spelling. I took some grief with the C because I am Greek, and the Greeks like the "K", but I personally think that the "C" is a much softer, feminine spelling. This is a lovely, timeless name that will take her anywhere she wants to go in life!

However, in Anne of Green Gables, Anne famously supports the "Katherine with a K" spelling over the "Catherine with a C." It's a surprisingly influential opinion and you're sure to meet a number of people who cite her and her logic on this matter.

I'm going to name my first baby after my best friend Catherine but to make it more unique I am going to spell it Caeffrynne because then there won't be anyone else with the same name like. The nickname is going to be Caeffie or KCaff (silent K) What do you all think? Will she be bullies :s?

To the person above - why make your child's life more complicated than it has to be?

My name is Catherine, and I have always loved it, and you can get so many nicknames from it! I got Katie as a child, Cat as a teenager and now I am an adult I get Cate.

To the person who's thinking of naming the child Caeffrynne, how about going for Cathrynne or Cathryn or Cathrynn or something if you're going with something unusual. I think Caeffrynne is over the top.

Nicknames for Catherine: | Edit

Kate, Cate, Kat, Cat, Kit, Kitty, Cathi, Kathy, Cathy, Cath, Kath, Kathie, Cathie, Katie, Catie, Caty, Katydid, Kay

Meanings and history of the name Catherine: | Edit

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Famous real-life people named Catherine: | Edit

Catherine "Kate" Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, wife of Prince William of Wales
Cate Blanchett (born Catherine Élise Blanchett), Australian actress
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Welsh actress
Catherine Deneuve, French actress
Catherine Oxenberg, American actress, daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia and related to Catherine the Great.
St. Catherine of Siena, Italian mystic and Doctor of the Church
St. Catherine of Alexandria, virgin and martyr, known as the "Great Martyr" in the Orthodox church
St. Catherine of Bologna, Italian abbess and patron of artists
St. Catherine of Sweden, daughter of St. Brigitta
Catherine the Great/Catherine II, Prussian-born Russian 18th century monarch
Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII
Catherine Parr (sometimes Katherine Parr), sixth wife of Henry VIII
Catherine Keener, actress
Cath Kidston, British Designer

Catherine in song, story & screen: | Edit

Catherine Earnshaw "Cathy", and her daughter Catherine Linton, characters in the classic novel "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë
Catherine Trammell, protagonist of the film "Basic Instinct"
Lady Catherine de Burgh, in Pride & Prejudice
Catherine Chandler, main character in the 1980s TV series "Beauty and the Beast", played by Linda Hamilton
"Catherine", novel by William Makepeace Thackeray
Catherine "Kitty" Bennet, youngest sister of Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice".
"Catherine", a novella written by Jane Austen during her teenaged years.
A Catherine wheel is a type of wheel-shaped firework, named after St. Catherine of Alexandria, who legend says was tortured on a spiked wheel.
Catherine Lightfoot (Richard Hammond's girlfriend in Top Gear)
Catherine, the sister of Myrtle Wilson in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby"
Catherine Barkley, the love interest of "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway