Catherine/Katherine

[123Dancewithme]

Is it dated? Would you be surprised to hear it on a baby born in 2020? I really like it but I’m concerned it’s more of a “mum name”

Also, which spelling do you prefer and which shortening do you like? I think Kitty is quite nice.

I love it and think Kitty is a lovely shortening.

I know one who is about 6 yo! You do hear it on children sometimes, just not very often.

Also know a Kathryn who is 3.

My very favourite name. It's timeless. I know ones from newborn to my mum 😍 I prefer Catherine as the spelling but I love any variation.

Katharine is my favourite spelling, followed by Katherine. I think Catherine is the most commonly used spelling in the UK.

There are a lot of spelling options - Katharine/Catharine/Katherine/Catherine/Kathryn/Cathryn.

Kate is my favourite nickname, but I like Kitty too. Katie, Cathy, Cath and Kat are also options so you've lots to choose from. It's a good solid classic name - everyone has heard of it and she is unlikely to have another in her class.

I know a Katherine aged 12. She is known as Katie at the moment, but obvs has options on other nn as she grows older. Kitty is lovely too.
I think it's a classic name that won't date. I certainly don't think of it as a 'mum' name.

Clearly all current mums were once babies! how is a name a "mum" name?

Catherine was on my list for a girl but I had a boy. I really liked it but also dh can't say his 'th's' so I had to discount it because I couldn't listen to 'caffrin' for the rest of my days.

Catherine, along with Sarah, was the ultimate ‘dull name’ when I was a teenager in the ‘90s - we had 7 in my secondary school year of 90 girls. However, it sounds fresh to me again now, and we actually considered it for DD2.

I think it’s lovely - strong, elegant and genuinely timeless (while it’s much less popular than it was, as a teacher I regularly came across primary-aged Catherines during the ‘00s and ‘10s - and they were always lovely!)

Had we gone with it, Kitty/Kit would have been our choice of nickname.

Really like the name Catherine / Katherine - don't like the yn spelling, prefer Catherine but its marginal over Katherine. Love Kitty as a nickname though DD has a classmate called Kitty and everytime she says her name our cat meows.

Also love Katie but DH didn't, less keen on other shortenings. I think its a classic name rather than a dated one.

I like Catherine best and I think it's a lovely name. Kitty is a sweet nickname, but it also gives her loads of options as she gets older: Katy and Cathy are my favourites.

@drspouse it's a mum name because the vast majority of Katherines now are mums.
Whilst a Katherine born in 2020 will highly likely be the only one in their class or school, they will get lots of comments "oh that's my aunties name" "that's my mums name". And us dowdy wrinkly mums seem very uncool when you're a ten year old 🤣
In the 80s I went to school with a girl called Susan and another called Carol. Lovely names but I did feel a bit sorry for them. They sounded very dated at the time and like they were a 40 year old trapped in a school child's body! Haha.
Each to their own of course! Just my opinion

I’ve always prefer Catherine. I think it looks softer! And I love Cate as a nickname :)

I think I often fall into the trap of thinking "oh wow Helen, that's a very refreshing name for me as a 1980s baby to hear for a 2020 baby. How great"
Instead of actually putting myself in others shoes and thinking how that baby Helen will feel growing up when the only other Helens she knows are a load of 30-40-50 year old women.
She could love it of course. Thinking about it, I'd hate it. Difficult to predict.

I have a 17 year old Catherine, she has a friend the same age. I also have friends called Catherine in their mid 40s.

Beware, my DD always has to spell her name out as there are so many variations.

Catherine was a v high choice for us, but due to knowing lots of other Catherines we went for Caitlin so she could have “her own name”. I kinda regret it now and wish I’d stuck to the original plan. She gets called Katie or Kitty anyway!

It's a classic, a bit dated now as it's fallen out of fashion, but it's such a beautiful name.

I think my favourite spelling is Katherine, with Kate for the diminutive. Kitty is also very sweet for a small girl.

Beautiful, and along with Helen, one of my favourites.
It will come back in the way that Emma and Sarah did in the 70s and Ruby/Ella etc did a decade or so ago.

I like it but in my secondary school in the mid 2000s there were so many variations and they all went by Katie. I think there was maybe 7 Katie's in my year. Although that being said I really like Caitlin and it's a potential name for any potential future babies I have.

I hated that name growing up, I knew so many Kates.

It’s funny because now I see it as a classic and would consider Catherine in the future. Kitty is my favourite nickname.

It’s an Elizabeth style name really - timeless, classic, LOTS of nickname choices.

I have a teenage one. She's a Kit - her choice. There's another 2 in her year at school - one Catherine and one Kate so it doesn't look like loads of them. Sophie's, Olivias and Hannah's are everywhere here!

I think Catherine looks nicer than Katherine, but I think the K version gives more options for nicknames.

Lovely

Definitely spelled with a 'K' - it's more kick-ass than those soft namby-pamby Catherines.

And yes, she'll have a lifetime of people misspelling it or assigning diminutive versions that she doesn't use. And addressing e-mails to her with a diminutive form even though her e-mail signature clearly shows that her name is K-a-t-h-e-r-i-n-e. But she'll get used to it.

🙋🏻‍♀️ Catherine over here! Born in the early 80s, growing up I never met another Catherine or Katherine, met a few Katy's though. I now have a toddler and I've never come across a Catherine in any toddler groups.

DS's middle name is Kathryn. It probably isn't a spelling I would normally have chosen but she was named in honour of someone with that name.