Catherine, Katherine, Katharine or Kathryn?

[agirlinred]

Catherine is my favorite spelling. I am just not a fan of "K" names. I see one and automatically become angry, probably because I'm used to "K" equaling Konnor, Kamdyn, Kammeryn, etc.

[kateinindia]

My name is Kathrine, nn Kate. Notice that there is no e or a between the h and the r. People are always spelling my name wrong even after I spell it out for them. Personally I think would prefer to be Katherine. If you love the name spelled with a C I would go for that. It is classic and strong.

[senoritashan]

I definitely prefer the Catherine spelling and see no reason why you can't spell Kate as Cate to use a a nickname. The C looks softer to me and less "made up". With the amount of K substitutes for traditionally C-spelled names, I just can't find many K names that look like they are supposed to be spelled with K's. The only one I like is Kaia!

[essjay]

I prefer the Katherine spelling. It feels modern and fresh to me, while Catherine feels more elegant and ladylike and more like the royalty spelling. Katharine is too Ms Hepburn and Kathryn looks trendy. Plus I'd use the nn Kate/Katie and so spelling the full name with a K as well makes more sense to me.

[stripedsocks]

I like Catherine and Katharine.

I dislike all the y spellings. For that matter, I don't like the 2-syllable pronunciation I associate with Kathryn, I prefer the 2.5 of Cath-e-rine or Kath-a-rine.

I'm only so-so on Katherine, which feels like it was afraid to commit to anything interested and muddles along in the middle.

Katharine - I like the historic use of this spelling, it's one of the very old ones. I like Ms. Hepburn. And I like the nicknames Kitty and Kay - both of which feel less used to me than Kate/Katie, which is okay too but just overworked. I'm not keen on K-for-kreative names, but there are a few classic and correct ones, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwatyr.

Catherine - I like this for the nickname Cat. And I like the soft, gentle vintage feel of Catherine. I do not like Cate.

[samjaymc]

For me, it has to be Catherine or Katherine. I think the Katharine doesn't flow well (just my opinion) and Kathryn is a little too modernly spelt for my liking.

[mischa]

1 Catherine
2 Katherine
3 Katharine
4 Kathryn

[elisabeth rae]

Usually I love the C-options but I really don't like Catherine. Katharine is my favorite, because I think it looks the prettiest, and Kathryn after that.

[goodhope]

My favorite is Catherine. It looks the most elegant to me, I love that it's the French spelling, and (from a visual standpoint) I prefer the smooth openness of the C to the prickliness of the K.

My second favorite is Katharine. It's the spelling that's most true to the origins of the name, and Hepburn is a great association. My biggest problem with Katharine is that it's so close to the far more popular Katherine, I think people would carelessly get it wrong most of the time. I prefer to save this spelling for use as a middle name.

Kathryn is streamlined and has a kind of mid-century spunkiness the other spellings lack, so I like it well enough. Katherine is my least favorite of the four just because I find it the least interesting.

[miloowen]

Historically, in English, the French Catherine has always had the nn Kate spelled with a K. My daughter has the Welsh name Caitlin, and my great-grandmother the Norwegian name Katarine, so I actually like the K and C versions: Katharine (which is German and Greek) and Catherine (French-Norman). I also love the Neapolitan nn Catari, which is the name used in my favourite song, Cor'ngrato.