Kathrin
The German spelling of the name Poles know as Katarzyna, sharing the Greek root that also gives Kasia. Fewer than 200 women in Poland carry this version, so most people here have never met one.
Kathrin Pronunciation
What Kathrin means
Where Kathrin comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Kathrin is the German spelling of a name the Greeks shaped first. Behind it stands Aikaterine, borne by a martyr from Alexandria whose cult travelled across medieval Europe. The same root took Polish form as Katarzyna, and from Katarzyna the household voice softened it to Kasia.
The meaning fixed to it, pure, czysta in Polish, arrived later. Medieval readers heard the Greek katharos, meaning clean, in the opening syllables and let that reading settle, though the earliest forms point somewhere less certain. The link held. So the idea of purity was attached to Kathrin rather than born with it.
On a school register in Poland, a Kathrin sits slightly apart from the column of Kasias, the German h giving her spelling a different weight. Her name-day falls on 25 November, the feast of Katarzyna. The name still opens onto Katarzyna, Kasia, and the Greek katharos behind the meaning czysta.
How many people are named Kathrin
1 in 113858 women in Poland is named Kathrin. 198 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2237 among female names.
Kathrin's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Kathrin as a middle name
Kathrin is a first name for 198 women in Poland and a middle name for another 67, a 75/25 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 831st, between Irina (67) and Kelly (67).
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#829 Ineza67
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#830 Irina67
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#831 Kathrin67
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#832 Kelly67
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#833 Rosalia67