Katharine

femaleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Katharine: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Katharine: Recorded since 1970, it reached #258 in 1997, and it stood at #4,709 in 2023.

3registrars recorded it
42times a registrar ranked it
54years from first to last
#258highest recorded position
12groupings it qualifies for

Region

Falling

among girls in England and Wales · 1996–2023

View as table

England and Wales · Girls rank by year
Year	Rank
1996	#260
1997	#258
1998	#316
1999	#315
2000	#349
2001	#480
2002	#424
2003	#583
2004	#574
2005	#802
2006	#855
2007	#963
2008	#817
2009	#1467
2010	#1218
2011	#1665
2012	#2338
2013	#2460
2014	#2058
2016	#3214
2017	#4063
2018	#3985
2019	#4001
2020	#3899
2022	#4645
2023	#4709

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

FallingEngland and Wales · Girls

Recorded in official data among girls in Republic of Ireland in 13 of the 43 years from 1970 to 2012.

In 2012: #907 among girls in Republic of Ireland, #2338 among girls in England and Wales.

Official data from 3 national registrars across 3 regions, 1970–2023 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1970
First recorded at #363 among girls in Republic of Ireland in 1970 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
Republic of Ireland · Girls
Highest recorded1996–2023
Highest recorded position: #258 among girls in England and Wales, in 1997 (recorded 1996–2023).
England and Wales · Girls
Most recent2023
Most recently recorded at #4709 among girls in England and Wales, in 2023.
England and Wales · Girls

Katharine appears in 3 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Girls, with 26 ranked years and 1,130 births registered; the earliest is Republic of Ireland · Girls, from 1970.

Katharine across 3 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Katharine's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
Republic of Ireland · Girls	#363 (1970)	#363 (1970)	#907 (2012)	13 of 43	51 (1970–2012)	6 (1985)
England and Wales · Girls	#260 (1996)	#258 (1997)	#4709 (2023)	26 of 28	1,130 (1996–2023)	152 (1997)
Northern Ireland · Girls	#314 (1997)	#282 (2000)	#372 (2004)	3 of 8	11 (1997–2004)	4 (1997)

Katharine by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Katharine in England and Wales · Girls, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	518	4 of 10	130
2000sbusiest	500	10 of 10	50
2010s	99	9 of 10	11
2020s	13	3 of 10	4

Across England and Wales · Girls, the 2000s were its busiest decade, averaging 50 births a year.

Its sharpest single-year move came between 1997 and 1998, when recorded births fell by 38, from 152 to 114.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Katharine appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1970 to 2023. Highest recorded position: #258 in England and Wales in 1997.

Katharine's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2023	England and Wales	female	#4709	4	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	female	#4645	4	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	female	#3899	5	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	female	#4001	5	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	female	#3985	5	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	female	#4063	5	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	female	#3214	7	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	female	#2058	13	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	female	#2460	10	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	female	#2338	11	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	female	#1665	17	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	female	#1218	26	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	female	#1467	19	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	female	#817	41	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	female	#963	31	High	Verified
2006	England and Wales	female	#855	35	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	female	#802	35	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	female	#574	54	High	Verified
2003	England and Wales	female	#583	50	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	female	#424	76	High	Verified
2001	England and Wales	female	#480	63	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	female	#349	96	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	female	#315	108	High	Verified
1998	England and Wales	female	#316	114	High	Verified
1997	England and Wales	female	#258	152	High	Verified
1996	England and Wales	female	#260	144	High	Verified
2004	Northern Ireland	female	#372	3	High	Verified
2000	Northern Ireland	female	#282	4	High	Verified
1997	Northern Ireland	female	#314	4	High	Verified
2012	Republic of Ireland	female	#907	3	High	Verified
1996	Republic of Ireland	female	#471	4	High	Verified
1995	Republic of Ireland	female	#451	4	High	Verified
1994	Republic of Ireland	female	#450	4	High	Verified
1992	Republic of Ireland	female	#523	3	High	Verified
1987	Republic of Ireland	female	#446	4	High	Verified
1985	Republic of Ireland	female	#386	6	High	Verified
1981	Republic of Ireland	female	#533	3	High	Verified
1980	Republic of Ireland	female	#542	3	High	Verified
1974	Republic of Ireland	female	#428	4	High	Verified
1973	Republic of Ireland	female	#402	5	High	Verified
1971	Republic of Ireland	female	#466	3	High	Verified
1970	Republic of Ireland	female	#363	5	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Northern Ireland hub — collected by NISRA
Republic of Ireland hub — collected by CSO Ireland

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 3 registrars between 1970 and 2023, ranked in 37 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #258, first reached in 1997.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 152 births, registered in England and Wales in 1997.

Its record falls into 9 separate stretches, with a longest absence of 5 years.

A second registrar first ranked it in 1996, and 27 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Katey · #516, 20y
Katharina · #203, 53y
Kathe · #234, 33y
Katherina · #288, 34y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 3 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Fleur · #260, 33y
Kris · #254, 39y
Leanna · #253, 41y
Sylwester · #252, 36y

Also first recorded in the 1970s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1970 and 1979.

Francesco · #258, 31y
Leroy · #258, 34y
Karolis · #257, 30y
Darron · #260, 15y

Katharine was ranked #258 in England and Wales · Girls in 1997. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Katharine and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Katharine without appearing here.

Katharine moved ahead of

Kerry Compare
In 2017 they stood at #4063 and #4063 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2018 that had become #3985 and #4684.
Rhonda Compare
In 1984 they stood at #533 and #386 in Republic of Ireland · Girls; by 1985 that had become #386 and #519.
Dianne Compare
In 1994 they stood at #523 and #456 in Republic of Ireland · Girls; by 1995 that had become #451 and #516.
Tania Compare
In 1994 they stood at #450 and #450 in Republic of Ireland · Girls; by 1995 that had become #451 and #516.

Moved ahead of Katharine

Janice Compare
In 2021 they stood at #3899 and #4535 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2022 that had become #4645 and #1948.
Blake Compare
In 2015 they stood at #2058 and #2203 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2016 that had become #3214 and #768.
Cecilie Compare
In 2022 they stood at #4645 and #5669 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2023 that had become #4709 and #2504.
Diane Compare
In 2016 they stood at #3214 and #3609 in England and Wales · Girls; by 2017 that had become #4063 and #2201.

Moved the opposite way to Katharine

Aisling Compare
Between 1970 and 2012 in Republic of Ireland · Girls, Katharine went from #363 to #907 while Aisling went from #71 to #42.
Alexandra Compare
Between 1970 and 2012 in Republic of Ireland · Girls, Katharine went from #363 to #907 while Alexandra went from #307 to #105.
Alice Compare
Between 1970 and 2012 in Republic of Ireland · Girls, Katharine went from #363 to #907 while Alice went from #115 to #69.
Amy Compare
Between 1970 and 2012 in Republic of Ireland · Girls, Katharine went from #363 to #907 while Amy went from #326 to #25.

Moved the same way as Katharine

Alma Compare
Between 1970 and 2012 in Republic of Ireland · Girls, Katharine went from #363 to #907 and Alma from #230 to #677.
Audrey Compare
Between 1970 and 2012 in Republic of Ireland · Girls, Katharine went from #363 to #907 and Audrey from #48 to #768.
Diane Compare
Between 1970 and 2012 in Republic of Ireland · Girls, Katharine went from #363 to #907 and Diane from #180 to #768.
Eileen Compare
Between 1970 and 2012 in Republic of Ireland · Girls, Katharine went from #363 to #907 and Eileen from #27 to #677.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1970 to 2023. Highest recorded position: #258 in England and Wales in 1997. Source data last verified 2026-07-22.

Katharine

Katharine at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Katharine across 3 official records

Katharine by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Katharine appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1970s

Names published alongside Katharine

Katharine and the names beside it

Katharine moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Katharine

Moved the opposite way to Katharine

Moved the same way as Katharine

Katharine at a glance

Katharine across 3 official records

Katharine by decade in England and Wales · Girls

Katharine appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1970s

Names published alongside Katharine

Katharine and the names beside it

Katharine moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Katharine

Moved the opposite way to Katharine

Moved the same way as Katharine