She’s an upbeat version of a classic name marred by a natural disaster.
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She’s an upbeat version of a classic name marred by a natural disaster.
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Hi, my name is Katrina. Like the hurricane. I was born in 1993, so I did come first.
When I was born, my family intended on calling me Katie for short. That didn’t stick, I’m not a Katie. My close family and friends now call me Trina. I was 12 years old when the historic hurricane hit, being in upper US I was far away from the devastation. Still, in middle school I told a lot of inappropriate jokes. “Oh I hear you blow hard.”
Gross. So after that I decided to go by Kat instead. It was cute and suited teenage me. But, I went back to introducing myself as Katrina by college.
Kat, Katie, Trina. Pretty good nickname potential. My mother picked my name right away, there were no alternatives. I choose to still love my name.
To those that survived the horrible disaster and all that happened afterwards, I’m sorry? Neither I nor any of the other Katrina’s in the world had anything to do with that. Because of the unique circumstance with our name, a lot of Katrina’s are empathetic. We have also developed a wicked sense of humor to counteract the treatment we receive for our name.
Abby, could this entry for Katrina be moved up the line to get fixed, please? I’m seriously considering it for a middle name (should we ever have another girl), and I would love to read what you’ve written about it. I’ve been in love with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow since I was a little girl, but then there is the hurricane. Could it be sidestepped in the middle?
Katrina is the US version of “Catriona” (which can be pronounced correctly “Ka-TREE-o-na” if using the Gaelic pronunciation, or “Ka-tree-OH-na” is also used, as well as the same pronunciation as “Katrina”.
We named our daughter Catriona, pronounced the Gaelic way. She was born in 2009 and to be honest we NEVER EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT the storm. No, we are not from the States but that doesnt really totally explain it…. we both were well aware of the Hurricane when it happened and all the aftermath and ongoing stories, so its strange we didn’t think of it. We just thought it was a nice name…we noticed it from two women athletes – Canadian multi-gold medalist Catriona Le May and Scottish champion golfer Catriona Matthews. We also reckoned a bonus for Catriona, when she gets older she can decide for herself what her “right” pronunciation should be :>) She can even be “Trina” or “Kitty” (ugh…) or whatever other derivatives that are known from “Catriona”. I mean, I wish I could have been given a broad spectrum to choose from for my own name! LOL
We love it, but it is hard for her pronounce herself. She’s started to call herself “Nina”…that may stick?
I mention this here since there is not a separate listing for “Catriona”.
We could never ever use this name, as we were trapped in the storm. In a vacuum it sounds pretty, but just hearing the name conjures up nightmares.
I can imagine it would! But I wonder if that small spike in Katrinas born immediately following the storm was due to parents who either delivered their daughter or found out they were expecting a girl right around the evacuation or subsequent displacement. In which case, I can’t imagine being a right-aged Katrina growing up in NOLA. Everyone must ask!
This name has never been on my list to honor my mom Kathy, simply because I have an older cousin named Trina. I do like it though — enough that I hope the storm doesn’t permanently ruin this name for people, as I’d like to hear it on other’s kids in the future.
This name seemed dated to me, then the hurricane hit. I think it will come back, but it may take a generation or two.
The hurricane is the first thing that comes to my mind too. It’s a pity, since the name itself is quite attractive and was one of my favourites when I was little. My cousin’s daughter is Chelsea Katrina, born at the height of Chelsea’s popularity, so many years before the storm hit.
My step-daughter is Katrin, she was 14 when the storm hit and she had the typical stormy personality of a teenager at time, so it seemed fitting that a huge hurricane was “named after” her. Other than people misreading her name is Caitlin or Katherine, I think she enjoyed her name, until Katrina hit. Now, I think she goes by Rina or Kat 99% of the time.
It does make me think of the devastating storm a little too much.
I do know a 30ish British Katriona, but I know her as “Katy”. I think she also goes by “kt” or “Kat”.
Then I know a 22 year old Caitlin and a 3 year old Caitlin. The 3 year old is also known as Caty (sounds the same as Katie/ Katy.)
Katrina is not for me, but I do see some merits.
My exposure to the name, beyond the storm, is dominated by two associations: 1) a German woman who worked with me when I first moved to England – she too had recently wed and moved to the country and seemed kind of depressed about it and 2) a caterpillar character on the Nick Jr. TV show Oswald. My kid really likes that caterpillar and talks about “Katrina” sometimes. Sleepy Hollow and the variant worn by the figure skater register, but not until my memory was jogged.
The merits, for me, are the nns. Kat, Kit, Kitty (which believe it or not I think has a really cool retro vibe), Trina, and Katya are all (additional) possibilities… and I like names with plenty of nns. However, the storm, no doubt, will stand in the way, at least in the US. That said the Gaelic spelling might distance the name just enough, even if it might confuse on pronunciation. The other names that are similar Katarina, Catarina, and even Ekaterina (Russian) could work, too.
But, the number of Catherine name variants used in the 50s-80s makes me think that those associated names might not be ripe for revival quite yet… while the more classic name Catherine and her variant spellings will stick around, all those Kathy, Kate, Katie, Caitlyn, Katrina, Kathleen, et al names might not be as popular for a while. Of course, that might help insure against tons of tots with your baby’s name, or some approximate name with similar nns, which is a plus, for me anyway.
You & SJP both, JNE! She calls one of her twins Kitty. 🙂
I know of someone named Katrin which I thought was an interesting variation on this one. I think she is from Eastern Europe.
I think of Katrin as Scandinavian, but that’s off the top of my head – I do like Katrin.
See, I think of Katrina and Katarina as two different names. I pronounce them very differently. Katrinka is cute and Trink as a nickname is darling.
Same here.
It does make me think of the storm, but I know enough real life Katrinas to get past those associations. My second association would be Washington Irving’s Katrina Van Tassel.
I also think of Katarina Witt, the figure skater. And I once had a colleague called Katrinka who answered to Trink, which was a little bit Disney fairy but also very cool.