Katrin
A shorter cousin of Katarzyna, carried home to Poland by German and Scandinavian neighbours. Fewer than 300 women here have it, so most Poles have never met one.
Katrin Pronunciation
Katrin is pronounced KAHT-reen (/ˈkatrin/).
What Katrin means
Where Katrin comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Katrin comes from Greek. The name traces back to Aikaterine, carried through the ancient world and spread across Europe by the cult of Saint Catherine. In German and Scandinavian use it settled into a short, firm shape, a close cousin to the Polish Katarzyna and its warm diminutive Kasia.
The meaning most people attach to it, "pure," czysta in Polish, came to the name later. Early writers linked it to the Greek katharos, meaning clean, though that connection was a reading applied after the fact rather than the actual root. The sense stuck anyway, and it has shaded how the name feels ever since.
On a Polish class register, Katrin sits a little apart from the rows of Katarzyna, a form brought home from German or Scandinavian neighbours. It keeps the family resemblance while trimming the length. Call out Kasia and a girl named Katrin may still turn her head. The name-day falls with Katarzyna's, on the twenty-fifth of November.
How many people are named Katrin
1 in 80227 women in Poland is named Katrin. 281 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1813 among female names.
Katrin's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 girls were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Katrin as a middle name
Katrin is a first name for 281 women in Poland and a middle name for another 85, a 77/23 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 717th, between Maria Magdalena (86) and Lan (85).
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#715 Louisa86
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#716 Maria Magdalena86
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#717 Katrin85
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#718 Lan85
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#719 Lia85