Same Name?!--Katherine

Ah, Katherine. Literally one of the oldest names on earth. It's so old that it's original meaning has been lost to time. Many baby books & websites will tell you it means "pure", but that's only partially true. The original recorded form was Aikaterine, which has several possible origins. But when Christianity became really big in ancient times, it was altered because of its "heathen" roots, and thus became Katharina--closely resembling the Greek word for "pure".

Oldest known form (Greek): Aikaterine [Αικατερινη] (eye-kat-ehr-EEN-ee)
Original Latin form: Katerina (kaht-er-EEN-ah)

Modern versions:

• Cadi (KAH-dee)--Welsh
  
• Caitlin (KAHT-leen)--Irish
• Catalina (kah-tah-LEE-nah)--Romanian & Spanish
• Cateline (kah-tel-een)--medieval French
• Cato (ka-TOH)--Dutch
• Catrin (KAHT-reen)--German
• Catrin (KAT-rin)--Welsh
• Catriona (kah-TREE-uh-nah)--Irish & Scottish
• Kadri (KAH-dree)--Estonian
• Kaia/Kaja (KAH-ya)--Scandinavian
• Kaisa (KYE-sah)--Estonian & Finnish
• Kalena (kah-leh-nah)--Hawaiian
• Karen (KEHR-en or KAHR-en)--Danish
• Katell (KAH-tel)--Breton
• Katina (kah-TEE-nah)--Greek & Macedonian
• Katrina (kah-TREEN-ah)--Dutch, German, & Swedish
• Katya (KAHT-ya)--Russian
• Kotryna (koh-TRIN-ah)--Lithuanian
• Nienke (NEEN-keh)--Frisian