Katie

The name originated as an English diminutive of Katherine, which traces back to the Greek Aikaterine. For centuries it existed strictly in spoken conversation rather than on formal registers. American parents began entering it directly onto birth certificates in 1880, gradually dropping the requirement of a formal baptismal name.

The name reads as a practical thirty-something who navigated the late 1990s with a three-ring binder. Just over half of all living bearers are Millennials, clustered around a 1986 peak when about eight thousand newborns received the name. A Katie tends to be pictured managing a shared calendar, owning a travel mug that has survived three office relocations, and answering roll call alongside three others with the same name. Today the name is rarely heard on playgrounds, having dropped to 447 infants in 2025.