• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Request a Name

Appellation Mountain

Where every name has a story

  • Baby Name Advice & More
  • Master List: Girl Names
  • Master List: Boy Names
  • Private Baby Name Consulting

Baby Name of the Day: Kateri

May 26, 2010 By appellationmountain 20 Comments

There’s Katherine and Katelyn, plus Katie, Kate, Kaitlyn and Catherine, too. With six Kate- names in the US Top 200, and endless variants heard over the years, how has this intriguing option failed to chart?

Thanks to Meredith for suggesting Kateri as Baby Name of the Day.

Kateri is the seventeenth century equivalent of Kimora. Or maybe Tiger, or Cher. Even if you choose the name for your child, it is hard to shake the association with one, distinctive person with a very specific biography.

The original Kateri was born Tekakwitha. Dad was a Mohawk chief. Mom was an Algonquin – and a Christian. It was 1656 in what we now consider New York state, but back then was Ossernenon, part of the Mohawk lands. The Jesuits had been in the area for some time – long enough for a trio of priests to meet their deaths as martyrs.

Tekakwitha lost both of her parents and her brother to a smallpox epidemic when she was just a child. She went to live with an uncle who was strongly anti-Christian and planned to see his niece sensibly married.

Tekakwitha resisted, and the year she celebrated her twentieth birthday, she was baptized by a French Jesuit from the nearby mission, taking the Christian name Catherine – Kateri in Mohawk.

This raises Meredith’s vexing question: What is the proper pronunciation of Kateri?

It’s tricky. After all:

  • Kateri is based on the Mohawk pronunciation of the French pronunciation of Catherine;
  • We know that seventeenth century French has changed over the years;
  • Likewise, Mohawk has claimed three distinct dialects since the 1800s and the first written version of Mohawk was developed by French missionaries in the 1700s – both after her demise;
  • In writings by those who knew her, Kateri was most often referred to as Catherine Tekakwitha;
  • Tekakwitha was not formally educated, and I cannot find any record of how she would have signed her name.

And yet, there’s consensus that the original Mohawk pronunciation would most likely have been gah deh LEE. It isn’t a pronunciation parents are likely to embrace.

Kateri has never entered the US Top 1000 and isn’t in use internationally. But the name surfaces in US Census records and you can find parents who have named their daughters Kateri in recent years. A few pronunciations cited include:

  • ka TEER ee, favored by the National Shrine to Kateri Tekakwitha;
  • KAY tuh ree, the most logical choice if you want to use Kay, Kate or Katie as a short form;
  • kuh TAYR ee, which links the name to Terri;
  • KAH tuh ree, KAT uh ree or kah teh REE, all of which take the name closer to some non-English versions of Katherine.

I could go on, and that’s one of Kateri’s shortcomings.

Incidentally, while she is beatified and is often referred to as St. Kateri Tekakwitha, she is not yet officially a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Strictly, speaking she’s Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha – Blessed, just short of sainthood.

If what you’re after is an unusual name with a religious vibe and a Native American link, Kateri is one of the few that fits the bill. But file Kateri with Therese and Andrea – you’ll need to be prepared to choose a pronunciation and repeat!

More names you might like:

  • Is C the new K?Is C the new K?
  • Baby Name of the Day: KatrinaBaby Name of the Day: Katrina
  • The Secret Meaning of NamesThe Secret Meaning of Names
  • Reader Baby Name Story: The All-Time Favorite NameReader Baby Name Story: The All-Time Favorite Name
  • In Defense of Isobel and Aiden: Ten Reasons to Embrace Variant SpellingsIn Defense of Isobel and Aiden: Ten Reasons to Embrace Variant Spellings

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Print

Comments

  1. Medr1e says

    June 6, 2013 at 1:40 AM

    To many, Kateri will call to mind Leonard Cohen’s 1966 novel, Beautiful Losers, which fictionalizes the life of Tekakwitha. I’m sure Mr. Cohen has convinced a person or two to use this name!

    Reply
  2. Kara says

    September 29, 2012 at 3:04 PM

    I love this name. My best friend’s older sister is named Kateri. They are Catholic hispanics from New Mexico and wanted a name that reflected both the Catholic and Native American side. She pronounces it Ka-TEHR-ee, the last part like the more familiar Terri.

    Reply
  3. appellationmountain says

    September 29, 2012 at 6:51 AM

    @Rin – you’re right! When I switched hosts, many of the posts were splinched. I’ve repaired lots of them, but I keep discovering more! I’ve fixed this one. Feel free to leave a comment on any other stubs you see, and I’ll fix them ASAP.

    Reply
  4. Rin says

    September 27, 2012 at 11:55 PM

    I have a feeling there should be more to this entry? All I see is the heading: Baby Name of the Day: Kateri, and underneath that: There’s Katherine and Katelyn, plus Katie, Kate, Kaitlyn and Catherine, too.

    And that’s all…?

    Reply
  5. Michael says

    August 30, 2012 at 4:15 PM

    My mother and sister are both named Kateri (Kah-Teer-i). My sister goes by “Kat” but nobody in the family calls her that. Over the years I have ran into a few other Kateris, but I could probably count them on my fingers.

    Reply
  6. Kateri says

    August 8, 2012 at 3:05 AM

    My name is Kateri, and I was born in 1961. My parents were originally from Canada, and pronounce it both Kah-tah-ree or Kah-three. I have never met another person with the same name.

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      January 7, 2016 at 12:02 PM

      Did you like growing up with that name? I want to name my daughter Kateri but I’m not sure how we should pronounce it or if she will like having to pronounce it for everyone she meets.

      Reply
  7. Claire says

    April 20, 2011 at 12:08 PM

    Someone at work just named a daughter Lillian Kateri. I immediately thought, “Kateri, haven’t I heard that before?” Sure enough, right here. I wonder what the couple’s motivation was. (Of course I don’t know them personally so I’ll never know). I like it but it sounds a little fantasy to me, like something from Avatar.

    Reply
  8. Kateri(yes, that really IS my name) says

    March 27, 2011 at 5:44 PM

    yes, my name IS Kateri. I pronounce it, and always have, Kuh- TEER-ee

    Reply
  9. lili says

    June 2, 2010 at 11:50 AM

    My cousins name is Katiri (Pr. ka TEER ee) and she goes by Kati. So it has always been a familiar name to me but I did not know its background, and I always wondered where my aunt and uncle had come up with it. And although I’m not a fan of changing spellings, I think my cousins spelling does take some of the guess out of it.

    Reply
    • appellationmountain says

      June 2, 2010 at 5:45 PM

      Lili, I tend to agree. Katiri seems clearer, and the name is so rare it isn’t as if she’ll be explaining that she’s Madisyn-with-a-y.

      Reply
  10. Joy says

    May 26, 2010 at 5:33 PM

    I’m seeing it as the first three syllables of Katerina, so it would sound like KAT-uh-ree. Next likely would be kuh-TEER-ee or KATE-ree.

    I do agree that this name is one that will be pronounced and spelled over and over again.

    Reply
    • British American says

      May 26, 2010 at 7:24 PM

      I see it as KAT-uh-ree too.

      Reply
  11. Whitney Gigandet says

    May 26, 2010 at 2:56 PM

    I’ve never heard of this name before and I really like it! It actually makes me think of the female character in Avatar, whose name is I believe spelled Neteri. I always thought it was a pretty name, and Kateri (I’m pronouncing it kay-teer-ee myself) seems like a more viable option for a human baby girl!

    Reply
  12. Charlotte Vera says

    May 26, 2010 at 2:00 PM

    What a fascinating name! I think I prefer the ka-TEER-ee pronunciation myself. To be honest, when I saw the name I pronounced it something like “cater-y” (i.e. similar to catering), but some of the pronunciation possibilities are lovely. It’s a pretty alternative to Catherine, but I think I’d have to have stronger ties to it to ever consider the name for one of my own offspring.

    Reply
  13. JNE says

    May 26, 2010 at 1:41 PM

    Hmm, it’s an interesting history, but I just can’t bring myself to get into the name. None of the pronunciations strike me as particularly appealing. None are awful, either, just not for me.

    Reply
  14. UrbanAngel says

    May 26, 2010 at 12:07 PM

    I say it as ka TEER ee or kuh-TARE-ee . It’s a really cool name with an interesting vibe. I enjoy thinking about it. I don’t quite like it enough to use on a child for myself ( at the moment, it might change) , but I’d definitely use it in a story or an animal

    Cool name !

    Reply
  15. Sebastiane says

    May 26, 2010 at 8:29 AM

    I love Kateri. She is cute, modern sounding yet traditional and legitimate at the same time. I have always been a fan of Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha. I have always said it (kuh-TARE-ee)

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Fetching Names: The Honest i | Appellation Mountain says:
    December 29, 2011 at 2:04 AM

    […] Kateri – The Mohawk version of Catherine, popularized by a seventeenth century convert to Christianity, is something of a puzzle.

    Reply
  2. Sunday Summary: 3/13/11 | Appellation Mountain says:
    March 13, 2011 at 11:24 AM

    […] Kabuki? Despite the appealing sound, comic book character, I think it probably crosses a line.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter


POPULAR POSTS

Tweets by @appmtn
Visit Appellation Mountain's profile on Pinterest.

Copyright © 2021 · AppellationMountain.net on Genesis Framework · Privacy Policy · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.