Diminutives of Katherine

[Lady Florida.]

For Katherine I've heard Kathy, Kate, Katie, Kat, Kit, and Kitty.

 

I'm a Kathleen and have only ever been called Kathy or Kat. I had one uncle who used to call me Katie but he did it to playfully irritate my mom. She always insisted that Kate/Katie was only short for Katherine and never for Kathleen.

[brightside]

I am a Katherine and I go by Kathy, however my MIL likes to call me Kat to irritate me.

[H.S. Burrow]

My Katherine is called Katy, sometimes Kat by her friends. :)

[kiana]

One of the neat things about Katherine is that there are so many ways to shorten it. :D

[Momling]

I was Katie as a kid and Kate since college.

It is an excellent name!

[mryann]

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

 

they are spelled differently and pronounced differently. Katya with a y is Slavic. Katia with an i is Greek.

 

http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Katia.html

[TracyR]

I don't know. My Katherine is a Katie. LOL

[Mary in VA]

My 21 yo dd is a Katherine and we have called her Katie since birth. Her grandmother for whom she was named went by Kay.

 

Mary

[newlifemom]

Who would've thought a thread titled "Diminutives of Katherine" would get so many responses. :001_huh: :D

 

 

Anyway, we have a Katherine and call her Kate. My ds is a Katherine and we call her Kathy. FTR, she does not like that name now as she is a professional, but it is too late to change.

[Murphy101]

Katie

Katydid

Wren

[Classical Katharine]

I'm a Katharine (yes, with an "a" . . . ). To most people, I'm Katharine. To my family, Kath. To one English teacher, Kate, and somehow from that teacher, this was okay by me.

 

I knew a Catherine who went by "Cat."

 

This is off-topic but Katharine seems to be a beloved name in many languages . . . it's found in Greek, Russian (Ekaterina, with Katya, Katyusha and Katyushenka as diminutives; Welsh, I think (Catriona); etc. It seems that where there is a K or hard C, T, R in that order, you may have a parallel name.

[rwjx2khsmj]

Katie and Kat are my favorite nicknames for Katherine.

[Katy]

Katy. =)

[katiejane]

Kath, Kathie or Kate

[Geo]

I didn't read all the posts, too many. "Kat" has probably been suggested already, but thought I'd throw it out there...just in case.

[FaithManor]

Katherine is a beautiful name and I am not fond of nicknames, so I vote Katherine only.

 

Faith

[chepyl]

Katie - my SIL is Katherine and I have called her Katie since we met in 7th grade.

[ElizaG]

We know a Catherine called Katie (and yes spelling is correct).

OT, but I think it's funny that so many people think it's weird or even wrong to spell the nickname this way when the first name starts with "C." Historically, it's pretty much the norm. "Cate" and "Catie" weren't seen much until the 1990's.

 

Google Books search for Catherine + Katie, up to 1960 -- 18 100 results

Catherine + Kate -- 67 000 results

 

Catherine + Catie -- 146 results

Catherine + Cate -- 6410 results

[arghmatey]

We call ours "Kitty".

[Just Another Jen]

We have a Mary Katherine we call kit kat.

[Momof3Maidens]

We have a Katherine (16yo).

 

We specified when she was born that she was to be called Katherine. We didn't want any nicknames because it was such a beautiful name. The only people to break that rule was her Dad (of all people) who calls her "K" every now and then and her Papa (who's now passed away) who called her "Kat". Her friends like to call her "Rine" every now and then but that's it.

 

She still prefers to be called Katherine if you ask her.

[WishboneDawn]

My daughter (with a C) is Cat.

[fairfarmhand]

"You lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate,

And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst,

But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom,

Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate—

For dainties are all Kates—and therefore, Kate,

Take this of me, Kate of my consolation:"

 

from one of my favorite Shakespeare plays....Taming of the Shrew.

[foxbridgeacademy]

If it were mine? She'd be katie, or kat, although, love, love the "ryn" suggestion from PP, very cool.

[JulieH]

Kit, Katie, Kate, Kat, Kit Kat?

[tiredmommyof8]

I voted Kate. I am from a long line of Catherines. My great grandmother's aunt was Catherine but called Kit. I am Catherine Noele. I go by Kate to those I do not know well and online. My family and close friends call me Noele. No offense to anyone but I do not like it when someone calls me Cathy.

[LucyStoner]

I think you call people what they want to be called. When they are tiny, that is what their parents prefer. However, anyone using the names K/Catherine- Kathryn-K/Caitlyn-C/Kathleen who is floored by the vast number of available nicknames is really living under the proverbial rock. I am a Kathleen and I am Kathleen at work, Katie in more personal/less professional situations and Kate to my parents. I do not like the nicknames Kathy, Kat or Kitty for myself so I would (and do) tell people not to use them (as gently as possible). There are so many variants on this name! I think part of the reason why is that the name has consistently been common (especially when you add up the different variations of the same full name!) and people really need to be able to distinguish themselves in someway from another Ka name. My softball team in high school had 4-5 of us at a time, as did every opposing team. We used to joke we could have started a league just for us! :001_smile: In high school, I was called katielastname without any break or space for 4 years because there were so many Katies (and it was a small school- less than 200 students total).

[Maus]

I had a Polish friend named the equivalent of Katherina, not sure what it was. She went by "Kaska" (sounded like "Kashka").

Edited September 23, 2011 by Maus
silly mistake made because I was posting when I should have been in bed

[Carpe]

An update since the thread was bumped:

 

They are calling her Ruthie. :lol:

 

They tried Kay for a few weeks and both started to hate it, so they tried only calling her Katherine. And after the most ridiculous fight I have ever witnessed, in front of many guests, my friend's DH yelled "Well fine! You call her whatever you want, I'm calling her Ruthie!"

 

And my friend liked it. So now we can add Ruthie to the list of shorthand for Katherine :001_huh:

 

And just because I know you're thinking it, no, her middle name is not Ruth. It was totally out of left field. Sleep deprivation does strange things to people. I am happy to report that they never fight about Ruthie like they did about Katherine, and Ruthie seems to be a better sleeper too :lol:

[bettyandbob]

I've heard Katherine's called all those choices plus Kit and Kitty.

[Robyn]

If I ever manage to have a daughter ;), I would love to name her Katherine, Kate for a nickname. My grandmother was Kay and I know someone who is Trin.

[nono]

An update since the thread was bumped:

 

They are calling her Ruthie. :lol:

 

They tried Kay for a few weeks and both started to hate it, so they tried only calling her Katherine. And after the most ridiculous fight I have ever witnessed, in front of many guests, my friend's DH yelled "Well fine! You call her whatever you want, I'm calling her Ruthie!"

 

And my friend liked it. So now we can add Ruthie to the list of shorthand for Katherine :001_huh:

 

And just because I know you're thinking it, no, her middle name is not Ruth. It was totally out of left field. Sleep deprivation does strange things to people. I am happy to report that they never fight about Ruthie like they did about Katherine, and Ruthie seems to be a better sleeper too :lol:

 

Now that's a keeper of a story!

[eloquacious]

Katya or Käthe.

[Orthodox6]

Katie

Katina (Greek)

Keti (Greek)

[higginszoo]

All of the above. A couple of cousins and I were all named after our great aunt Catherine (my middle name, but it was used as much as my first when I was little). I was Kay (or KayKay), the next cousin was Katie (both spelled Katherine with a K). Our other cousin is Catherine, and when she was a baby, so many people asked whether it was with a K or a C, that she has always gone by Kayce (pronounced KC). On the other side, I'm named after my great-grandma Katherine, and I have an aunt Kathy who was also named after the same grandma and a cousin Kat.

[Bootsie]

DD is Katherine and that is what DH and I always call her. If I were going to choose to shorten it, I would use Kate.

 

Her grandmother, whom she was named for, was often called "Kitty." My sister is Katie--but that is her given name, not a nickname.

 

DD decided a couple of years ago to call herself Kat--she has a very long last name and got tired of writing her name on school papers. Other kids would be through with their work and she would still be writing her name. I am not so fond of Kat, but I have gotten used to other people calling her that.

 

Since she adores Kate Middleton--I have almost talked her into using Kate instead.

[CalicoKat]

I've also heard Kiki. However, if the mom prefers Katherine, she should just keep correcting the nicknames until it sinks in.

:D:D My sisters and very close family have always called me Kiki. I hated that for a while but then I realized it's pretty unique.

 

My sister's kids call me Aunt Kiki.