How Many People Are Named Katharine?
An estimated 26,798 people in the United States have the first name Katharine. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 45 years old, and Katharine peaked in popularity in 1982 with 947 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Katharine as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Katharine paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
26,798
About 1 in 12,790 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
100.0% confidence
Average Age
45
years old
Peak Year
1982
947 births
Total Registered
41,215
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Katharine
Katharine is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 41,215 total births registered, 100.0% were female.
Katharine as a male name
Ranked #7,077 in 1985
5 male births in 1985
Peak: 1984 (6 births)
Katharine as a female name
Ranked #4,812 in 2024
28 female births in 2024
Peak: 1982 (947 births)
Katharine: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Katharine span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1980s, when 7,872 babies were registered. Katharine has declined significantly from its peak in the 1980s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Katharine by Decade
How has Katharine tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 896 | 0 | 896 | |
| 1890s | 1,297 | 0 | 1,297 | |
| 1900s | 1,246 | 0 | 1,246 | |
| 1910s | 2,854 | 0 | 2,854 | |
| 1920s | 2,572 | 0 | 2,572 | |
| 1930s | 1,724 | 0 | 1,724 | |
| 1940s | 2,789 | 0 | 2,789 | |
| 1950s | 3,712 | 0 | 3,712 | |
| 1960s | 3,114 | 0 | 3,114 | |
| 1970s | 3,848 | 0 | 3,848 | |
| 1980s | 7,872 | 11 | 7,861 | |
| 1990s | 5,315 | 0 | 5,315 | |
| 2000s | 2,881 | 0 | 2,881 | |
| 2010s | 915 | 0 | 915 | |
| 2020s | 180 | 0 | 180 | |
Katharine by State
Birth registrations for Katharine span all 48 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in New York, California, Pennsylvania. The lowest are in Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada. On average, about 668 Katharines were registered per state.
Katharine + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Katharine as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Katharine
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
Katharine: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Katharine?
We estimate approximately 26,798 people named Katharine are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 12,790 Americans share this first name.
Is Katharine a common name?
Katharine is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.7% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 41,215 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Katharine most popular?
Katharine reached peak popularity in 1982, when 947 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Katharine is approximately 45 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Katharine a female name?
Katharine is predominantly female. 100.0% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Katharine Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Katharine Smith, Katharine Johnson, Katharine Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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