Meaning: Its source is Aikaterine, a Greek name meaning "Pure."

Languages: This girl's name is used in German, English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Polish and Serbian.

Nickname For: Katherine

Alternative Spellings: Catia and Kaitia

Variant Forms: Katja and Katjuscha

Popularity: The name Katia ranked 939th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of 2000-2003 Social Security Administration statistics and 2906th in popularity for females of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census.

Narrative: This meaning assumes the source name was derived from the Greek term katharos. However, it may have evolved from Hecate, the name of the Greek goddess of magic. Another possible source is katateinô, the Greek word for torture.

All three meanings might have been associated with St. Aikaterine (Katherine) of Alexandria, who was born a pagan but died as a Christian martyr.