Humanverse

Kathy vs Katrinka

American parents have registered 334,870 Kathys since 1880, against 503 Katrinkas. Kathy is still ahead, with 48 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kathy against Katrinka, 1880 to 2025 0 6k 12k 18k 24k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kathy Katrinka

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

Kathy has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1910 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1940, when Kathy had 604 and Katrinka had 8.

Side by side

  Kathy Katrinka
Total US births 334,870503
Most in one year 23,98324
Babies in 2025 48under 5
Estimated living today 275,000430
Median age today 6661
Peak year 19581954
Best rank 14th girls2,186th girls
Rank in 2025 3,249thunranked
First recorded 19101940
Girls / boys 334,131 / 739503 / 0

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.

Which name is older

Half of the Kathys alive today are over 66; half the Katrinkas are over 61. That is 5 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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