Katharina
The German spelling of Katarzyna, from the Greek word for "pure". It stays rare in Poland: most people here have never met one, and the girls who carry it were mostly born years ago.
Katharina Pronunciation
What Katharina means
Where Katharina comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Katharina reached German through Greek, from the older name Aikaterine, whose first meaning stayed uncertain even to the scholars who studied it. The sense of "pure" was attached later, once speakers tied the name to the Greek word katharos, clean or clear. That link stuck. In Poland the same name became Katarzyna, and from there the everyday Kasia.
Katharina von Bora, who married Martin Luther in 1525, carried the German form into one of the most examined marriages in Europe. The medieval Saint Catherine of Alexandria gave the name its early pull, and her feast on the 25th of November still anchors the imieniny for every Katarzyna.
For a Polish speaker the chain is short: Katarzyna on the certificate, Kasia at home, and behind both a Greek root that only later came to mean czysta, pure.
How many people are named Katharina
1 in 40474 women in Poland is named Katharina. 557 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1265 among female names.
Katharina's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been falling steadily since 2000.
Katharina as a middle name
Katharina is a first name for 557 women in Poland and a middle name for another 363, a 61/39 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 359th, between Dobrawa (364) and Fatima (357).
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#357 Irene365
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#358 Dobrawa364
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#359 Katharina363
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#360 Fatima357
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#361 Helen357