UK girl's name
Katya
A feminine diminutive of the Russian name Ekaterina, derived from Greek meaning "pure".
For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.
Katya is a girl's name in the UK records. People looking for Katya popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #3318, with 7 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 1998, with 29 births.
This profile covers 368 England and Wales registrations across 27 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales and NRS Scotland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.
The latest count is about 24% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.
We estimate that about 379 living people in the UK are called Katya. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.
Key insights
- • Katya ranked #3318 for girls in England and Wales in 2024, with 7 registrations.
- • The name peaked in 1998, when 29 girls were registered as Katya.
- • Katya ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #744 in 2007.
- • About 379 living people in the UK are estimated to have Katya as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.
Latest rank (E&W)
#3318
2024
Births in 2024
7
Latest year
Peak year
1998
29 births
Estimated living
379
2026
Meaning
What does Katya mean?
The name Katya is a diminutive form of the Russian name Ekaterina, which is derived from the Greek name Aikaterine. Aikaterine is a combination of two Greek words: "katharos" meaning "pure" and "hekateros" meaning "each of the two." The name was borne by a 4th-century saint who was martyred in Alexandria during the reign of Emperor Maximinus.
Ekaterina was first introduced to Russia in the 10th century after the Christianization of the Kievan Rus. It became a popular name among the Russian nobility and royalty, with several Russian Empresses bearing the name, including Catherine I (1684-1727) and Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great (1729-1796).
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Katya is found in the 12th-century Russian epic poem "The Lay of Igor's Campaign." In the poem, Katya is mentioned as the wife of a warrior named Igor Svyatoslavich.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Katya. One of the most famous is Katya Lycheva (1925-1942), a young Soviet partisan who was executed by German forces during World War II for her resistance activities. Her bravery and sacrifice have been celebrated in numerous works of literature and film.
Another notable Katya is Katya Kabanova (1853-1933), a Russian opera singer who performed with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. She was particularly renowned for her roles in operas by Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky.
In the field of literature, Katya Treu (1913-1997) was a German-born writer who authored several novels and short stories exploring themes of identity, displacement, and the aftermath of World War II.
Katya Linden (1965-), an American artist and sculptor, is known for her large-scale installations that explore the relationship between humans and the natural world.
Finally, Katya Zamolodchikova (born 1982) is a Russian-American drag queen and television personality who gained fame on the seventh season of the reality competition series "RuPaul's Drag Race."
Sourced from namecensus.com.
Popularity
Katya over time
The chart below shows babies named Katya registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.
For Katya, the clearest high point is 1998. The latest England and Wales figure is 7 births in 2024, compared with 29 at the peak.
Babies born per year
Decades
Katya by decade
Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Katya was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.
| Decade | Average rank | Total births | Years covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | #3781 | 23 | 4 |
| 2010s | #3130 | 71 | 9 |
| 2000s | #1365 | 189 | 10 |
| 1990s | #1034 | 85 | 4 |
Geography
Where Katya is most common
The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Katya. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.
Katya ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #744 in 2007.
Across the UK
Katya in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland (NRS)
#744 in 2007
4 years of NRS records, 13 total registered
Notable bearers
Famous people named Katya
-
Katya Ruby Rose Knopfler
daughter of Mark Knopfler
2003-
-
Katya Adler
journalist
British journalist
1972-
-
Katya García-Antón
curator
British-Spanish curator and head of the Office for Contemporary Art Norway since 2014
1966-
Related
Names similar to Katya
- Katie 53,185
- Keira 14,411
- Katherine 11,323
- Kayleigh 10,677
- Kate 10,276
- Kelsey 7,224
- Kiera 7,218
- Kayla 6,541
- Kirsty 6,384
- Khadija 5,948
- Kimberley 5,189
- Kaitlyn 5,137
FAQ
Katya: questions and answers
How popular is the name Katya in the UK right now?
In 2024, Katya was ranked #3318 for girls in England and Wales, with 7 births registered.
When was Katya most popular?
The peak year on record was 1998, with 29 babies registered as Katya in England and Wales.
What is the meaning and origin of Katya?
A feminine diminutive of the Russian name Ekaterina, derived from Greek meaning "pure".
How many people are called Katya in the UK?
A total of 368 babies have been registered as Katya across the 27 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 13 more in Scotland.
Where is Katya most common?
In the latest published local rankings, Katya ranks best in Scotland, where it placed #744 in 2007. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.
Which records is this page based on?
The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.