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Cataleya

A Latin name pointing to the orchid, the cattleya flower it echoes. It stays rare in Poland: fewer than 150 women carry it, so most people here have never met one.

Cataleya Pronunciation

Cataleya is pronounced tsah-tah-le-IH-ah (/t͡satalɛˈɨa/).

Alive in 2025
144
Newborns 2025
7
National rank
#2714

What Cataleya means

Where Cataleya comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Cataleya grows from a flower. The cattleya orchid took its Latin name in 1824, when the botanist John Lindley honored William Cattley, an English grower who first coaxed the plant into bloom. From that scientific label a first name later branched off, softened in spelling and Spanish in feel.

The cattleya is the national flower of Colombia, and that link gave the name its life in cinema. In the 2011 film Colombiana, Zoe Saldana plays an assassin called Cataleya Restrepo, who leaves an orchid drawn on each of her victims. After the film, the name spread among Spanish-speaking families and past them.

So the meaning stays simple: orchid. A girl named Cataleya carries a Latin plant word and a Spanish sound at once. On a Polish class register it would stand out, four syllables long, next to the Zuzannas and Julias. The flower came first, and the name still means orchid.

How many people are named Cataleya

1 in 156554 women in Poland is named Cataleya. 144 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2714 among female names.

People with the name Cataleya 2019 → 2025
144 +93 since 2019
2020 61 +10
2021 71 +10
2022 88 +17
2023 108 +20
2024 128 +20
2025 144 +16

Cataleya's popularity over time

7 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #795 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2012.

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7 newborns with the name Cataleya in 2025
national rank #795 that year

Where Cataleya is most popular

Cataleya is most popular in Lower Silesian, 345% above the national average (11 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Greater Poland (+107%) and Pomeranian (+73%). It is least common in Lesser Poland, 44% below average.

More common than average Less common than average

Cataleya as a middle name

Cataleya is a first name for 144 women in Poland and a middle name for another 41, a 78/22 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 1074th, between Andrzeja (41) and Cezaria (41).

As a first name
144
As a middle name
41
first name 78% middle name 22%
Middle-name ranking women

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