Katarzyna
Around 600,000 Polish women carry it, but it's rarely given now: just 221 newborn girls last year. From Greek, its old sense was "pure": clear and unclouded.
Katarzyna Pronunciation
Katarzyna is pronounced kah-tah-ZHIH-nah (/kataˈʐɨna/).
What Katarzyna means
Where Katarzyna comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Katarzyna comes from the Greek Aikaterine, a name older than the meaning now attached to it. The sense of pure was fastened on later, drawn from the Greek word katharos, once the name had entered Christian use. So the origin is Greek. The meaning, czysta, followed.
Saint Catherine of Alexandria carried the name across medieval Europe, and it broke into local forms as it spread. England kept Katherine, the north had Katrina, and Poland held onto the full Katarzyna. Kasia does the daily work, at home and in the school register.
On 25 November, the feast of Saint Catherine, a Polish class register can hold more than one Kasia. The name has stayed common in Poland for a very long time. Its root is Greek, its short meaning czysta, pure.
When Katarzyna celebrates name day
Katarzyna appears 17 times in the Polish name day calendar, 5 of them as a main name, the first on 13 February.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
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in 145 days2 FebruaryTuesday in 2027
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in 195 days24 MarchWednesday in 2027
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in 203 days1 AprilThursday in 2027
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in 207 days5 AprilMonday in 2027
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in 208 days6 AprilTuesday in 2027
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in 211 days9 AprilFriday in 2027
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in 219 days17 AprilSaturday in 2027
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in 231 days29 AprilThursday in 2027
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in 241 days9 MaySunday in 2027
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in 359 days4 SeptemberSaturday in 2027
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in 5 days15 SeptemberTuesday in 2026
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in 112 days31 DecemberThursday in 2026
How many people are named Katarzyna
1 in 37 women in Poland is named Katarzyna. 603,602 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #4 among female names.
Katarzyna's popularity over time
221 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #176 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #4 name among living women, even as it slips to #176 among newborns.
Where Katarzyna is most popular
Katarzyna is most popular in Lesser Poland, 26% above the national average (384 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Świętokrzyskie (+16%) and Lublin (+15%). It is least common in Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Silesian, 13% and 12% below average respectively.
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Lesser Poland384 girls born+26%
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Świętokrzyskie86 girls born+16%
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Lublin158 girls born+15%
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Opole69 girls born+12%
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Subcarpathian178 girls born+10%
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Lower Silesian214 girls born+2%
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Lubusz68 girls born+2%
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Podlaskie87 girls born−1%
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West Pomeranian112 girls born−1%
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Pomeranian191 girls born−3%
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Warmian-Masurian92 girls born−4%
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Masovian437 girls born−8%
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Greater Poland266 girls born−8%
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Łódź153 girls born−10%
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Silesian269 girls born−12%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian127 girls born−13%
Katarzyna as a middle name
Katarzyna is a first name for 603,602 women in Poland and a middle name for another 417,647, a 59/41 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 3rd, between Anna (896,998) and Barbara (403,010).
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#1 Maria1,481,845
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#2 Anna896,998
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#3 Katarzyna417,647
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#4 Barbara403,010
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#5 Ewa372,483