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Cathryne vs Kathryn

American parents have registered 456,515 Kathryns since 1880, against 535 Cathrynes. Kathryn is still ahead, with 381 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Cathryne against Kathryn, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Cathryne Kathryn

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Kathryn has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1907, when Cathryne had 5 and Kathryn had 864.

Side by side

  Cathryne Kathryn
Total US births 535456,515
Most in one year 148,517
Babies in 2025 under 5381
Estimated living today 290315,000
Median age today 4748
Peak year 19161952
Best rank 2,246th girls48th girls
Rank in 2025 unranked729th
First recorded 19071880
Girls / boys 535 / 0455,423 / 1,092

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

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Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Cathryne and Kathryn.