The story in the numbers

455,036 girls have been named Kathryn in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1952, with 8,504 births — 0.46% of all girls recorded that year.

It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 293 → 717).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1960, and the 1950s alone account for 17%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 104 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 1,092 boys have also been given it, 0.24% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Kathryn

3,276

5,653

8,333

29,235

33,791

22,583

44,580

77,803

44,864

36,436

62,445

47,179

26,304

10,195

2,359

In 1952, its biggest year

Kathryn was the 48th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1952 were Linda, Mary, Patricia, Deborah and Susan. See all of 1952.

Names that rose and fell with Kathryn

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.