Diminutives of Katherine

[jbemom]

Kitty ;)

 

I have a cousin who was given the name Kitty at birth but when she became an adult, she changed her name to Katherine.

 

I think I would shorten to Kate.

[GailV]

The person in question is an infant, her mom thinks it's odd that people shorten Katherine to Kathy or Kate. In her opinion only Kath is a logical diminutive. I'll have to tell her about Kit/Kitty :)

 

Heavens, didn't she ever see Taming of the Shrew?

[ereks mom]

I'm one of those who believes that you should name a child the name you intend to call him. I voted "Katherine only".

[dangermom]

I have a Katie, who someday will probably want to be a Kat. I've always kind of wanted to call her Kitty sometimes, except it always sounded so pretentious to my ears and I'm not that brave...

[Orthodox6]

My dd is Katia, the Greek version of Katherine.

 

Forgive me. Katia (Katya) is the Slavic diminutive, not Greek. :)

Edited July 29, 2011 by Orthodox6

[Ellesmere]

.

[Orthodox6]

:lol: Memories just came flooding back to me! :lol:

 

Could be worse. I could have posted a link to Kalinka ! :D

[twoxcell]

I have a Katherine. I pretty much always call her Katherine, but some people call her Katie. I also like Kate, and could imagine her being called that some when she is older. I do not like Kathy at all it sounds like an old lady.(no offense to any Kathy's)

[Firefly]

I know a Kat and a Kate. I like both.

[kitten18]

I've always kind of wanted to call her Kitty sometimes, except it always sounded so pretentious to my ears and I'm not that brave...

I love Kitty, I don't think it sounds pretentious at all.:001_smile:

[angela in ohio]

Katie or Kathy would be most common around here, though Kate is seen sometimes.

 

My dd is Katie.

[Pink Fairy]

My dd is a Mary-Kathryn, but she goes by Mary-Kate. :001_smile: Some people do call her Mary, but it sounds off to me--like the wrong name.

 

I also love Katie and Kit as nicknames.

[Kirch]

The person in question is an infant, her mom thinks it's odd that people shorten Katherine to Kathy or Kate. In her opinion only Kath is a logical diminutive. I'll have to tell her about Kit/Kitty :)

 

Since when do diminutives have to be logical? Harry from Henry? Jack from John (although that's probably derived from the French "Jacques," it makes no sense in English!)? Meg from Margaret? It is the parents' choice, of course, so in then end they're the only ones to whom it has to make sense.

 

Although I have to say that "Kath" makes me think of catheters--I'm thinking I've heard nurses/doctors use "cath" as shorthand. :001_huh:

 

Or cathode ray tubes . . .

[springmama]

I am a Katherine but mostly use Kathy.

 

If a baby's mother introduced her baby to me as Katherine, then I would call her Katherine.

[momofkhm]

Katie, Katy, Katey.

[Leighton Academy]

I don't shorten anyone's name unless it's something they prefer to be called. That's why myself and all my friends and family call my husband Thomas and all of his friends/family call him Tom. :001_smile:

 

My BFF is a Kathryn and she will quickly correct someone if they shorten her name.

 

On a side note: I intentionally chose my sons' names so they cannot be easily shortened.

[LittleIzumi]

Kat or Katya :)

[ktgrok]

My grandma went by Kay, my mom goes by Kathy, and she named me Katie.

[LizzyBee]

My Katherine goes by Kate or Katie, but mostly Katie.

[kathkath]

I am Katherine and go by Katherine. People who don't know me and try to be overly friendly call me Kathy sometimes but I don't like it. I have a few close friends who call me Kat, but not family. My brother calls me George.

[prairiewindmomma]

I have had friends who have the given name Katherine who have gone by other diminuitives:

Katia/katja (russian, hungarian, and slav friends)

Kasia (czech)

Trina (german)

Karen (danish)

Catina (I think she was spanish--had a uni class with her in austria)

 

My favorite pronunciation of Katherine is cat-er-enn. It's a family name of ours....if I ever have another daughter :)

[Hannah C.]

Most of the Katherine/Kathryn/etc.s I know go by Katie.

[Brenda in FL]

I voted for several. Other - Katie.

[QueenCat]

Kathie

[Jeannie in NJ]

my dc have several friends called Katie

[scrappyhappymama]

My sister is Kathryn and she goes by Katie.

 

Until she was 5, we called her Kathy, buy when my mom was signing her up for kinder, on a whim, she asked her if she liked Kathy or would rather be called something else, knowing that what she was called starting out in school would likely stick. My sister said she wanted to be Katie instead, and so from then on at school she was Katie. It took the family several years though to quit calling her Kathy!

 

My SIL is Catherine and she goes by Catherine. It's funny, my sister's name Katie is so ingrained in my head that I forget they both actually have the same name. :)

 

As an aside, one of our boys is Samuel and we call him Samuel, not Sam. The only Sams we know personally are both girls named Samantha who go by Sam. So, my Samuel will absolutely NOT answer to Sam. :D He thinks of it as a girl name, and it just doesn't even register that someone is talking to him when they try to call him Sam.

[Evergreen State Sue]

If I didn't just call her Katherine, I'd probably nickname her Katie.

[HeidiKC]

The person in question is an infant, her mom thinks it's odd that people shorten Katherine to Kathy or Kate. In her opinion only Kath is a logical diminutive. I'll have to tell her about Kit/Kitty :)

 

Why? Oh - maybe she means she thinks those names come from Kathleen instead? I generally think of Kate as more of a nickname for Kathleen, but Kathy definitely makes me think Katherine.

[Carpe]

Why? Oh - maybe she means she thinks those names come from Kathleen instead? I generally think of Kate as more of a nickname for Kathleen, but Kathy definitely makes me think Katherine.

 

I couldn't exactly wrangle it out of her. She and her DH are actually fighting about this. He agreed to Katherine assuming that they would call her Kate. And she thinks that's not right. I refused to give my opinion either way because I didn't want to get involved. Then they both started harping on me about it because my sister Katherine has been all of the names in the poll (except Other, although I could start calling her that) at one point in her life. Why anyone thinks that I am the voice of reason is beyond me.

 

So I did the only logical thing, I asked the Hive. :D

 

Honestly I didn't realize there were so many differing names for Katherine. Last I heard they're considering Kay because neither finds it particularly offensive, but neither like it either.

[gardenmom5]

I have a Katherine. she goes by Katherine.

 

sometimes, like when they want something, her siblings will call her Kat-e-rin

Edited July 29, 2011 by gardenmom5

[gardenmom5]

How do you shorten Katherine?

 

Kat

Kate (my preferred version)

Katie

Kitty

Kit

kath

kathy

 

I personally hate names with an "e" sound on the end. I think it's because I have a relative who habitually put's "e's" on the end of names, even if they aren't supposed to have one there.

Edited July 29, 2011 by gardenmom5

[gardenmom5]

I.

 

If your name is Elise - do you ever get called Elsie? I have an Elyse, and have long lost count of the number of times people have read her name as Elsie . . . .

[mazakaal]

I have a Kathryn that we shorten to Katie or Kate, but I've heard Kay, Kit, Kathy, Kath, Katy, Kitty.

 

If the mom wants her dd to be called Katherine, she should just keep introducing her as Katherine and calling her by that name. People will eventually catch on. But as her dd gets older, it will probably be shortened by her or her friends.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Cousins little girl was Kitty when little and now Kit as an adult. My dd's mm is Catherine but she was Emma Kate when she was little.

[RahRah]

A cousin of mine is Katy, with a "y" not an "ie"....and her full name is Kathryn.

 

Sometimes we'll call her "Kat" - other times it's Kathryn - and rarely, but now and then, "Kay"....mostly Katy though.

[TXMomof4]

Katherine = Katy in our family.

[Princess Peach]

I voted that I wouldn't shorten it. If it were my DD, I would just name her what I wanted her to be called, be it Kate, Kathy or whatever. This is what my parents did with my name. They named me the "nickname" instead of having my official name be something, but call me something else.

 

Of course, this means that I am always explaining that my name is my legal first name, because it's also spelled differently, and, yeah, that's my parents' doing, too. And it's on my birth certificate. But I digress...

[kewb]

All the Katherines I knew growing up either went by Katherine or Kathy. There was one Kate.

 

Kathy is a fairly common nickname of Katherine. Since my name is Kathy and all my life I have been asked if that is short for anything-Katherine or Kathleen I know.

 

As for what to call the baby-I go with however the mother introduced the baby to me.

[Dmmetler]

My SIL goes by Cat, as does one of my daughter's friends, and both are Katherines. I've also known quite a few Katies who were Katherines.

[momma aimee]

Our girl name is Katherin Beatice and she'd be called Katie-B

 

but, done having kids here so the name is not gonna get used.

[LibraryLover]

Katie is most common in my corner of the world.

[5forMe]

I know one Katherine who's called Kat and one who's called Kath.

 

If the mom of an infant told me the baby's name was Katherine and didn't offer a nickname, I'd call the baby Katherine. I think it's presumptuous to use a nickname in a situation like that.

 

:iagree:

[Rich with Kids]

I am a Katherine and I have always gone by Katy. :001_smile:

[hsmom27]

Well, I grew up as a Katie, but once I hit college I switched to Katherine. I now know A LOT of Katherines and we all go by Katherine. We all grew up going by different nn (usually Katie, Kate, or Rin/Ryn) but as adults, we've all fallen back on Katherine.

[AngieW in Texas]

If I had named one of my girls Katherine, I'd probably call her Kat.

[Tina]

When dd was born we had living next door a Kathy, Katie, and Kitty. We stuck with the whole name, although I favor Kate to shorten it, tho dd likes Kat. :001_smile:

[unsinkable]

I know a family that the g'ma, mom and daughter are all Katherines.

 

They use Katie, Kathy and Kay.

[Splash]

My grandmother is Kathryn, my aunt Katherine, my cousin is Kathleen. All three use their full names, never a nickname. SIL is Kathy.

 

I always wanted to use name Katherina and nn Rina. Dh said we had enough forms of Katherine in our family already.

 

ETA: I don't see any problem with parents having different nick names for their child. I always introduce my dd with her full name but dd calls her a nick name. Doesn't confuse her at all. I will say though sometimes people think I have three daughters instead of only two because of this.

Edited July 29, 2011 by Splash

[Jackie in AR]

I have a Catherine, and sometimes call her Katrina.

[Rebecca M]

Our DD is Kathryn and we call her Kathryn.