Definition of "Catherine"

- - - despite of what you say of my fine name, I think my head is so obstinate and inflexible that the name Catherine was well chosen. It suits my character. I was given the name by the late Empress Elisabeth, to whom I owe much; she gave it to me out of affection and out of respect for her mother

1763 Voltaire and Catherine the Great: Selected Correspondence. Voltaire, Catherine, Antony Lentin.(Translation from French.)Publ. Oriental Research Partners,1973

It was named Catherine, but he never called it the name in full, as he had never called the first Catherine short, probably because Heathcliff had a habit of doing so. The little one was always Cathy, it formed to him a distinction from the mother, and yet, a connection with her;

1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […]

"Is that your given name?" "Not exactly. My father named me Catherine, and my mother nicknamed me Carrie. Nobody calls me Catherine." "Oh, but you're much more a Catherine than a Carrie," observed Peter seriously. "Carrie is simple and mundane; Catherine is complex and beautiful."

1981, Carole Gift Page, Carrie, Bethany House Publishers, published 1994, page 55

"Yes, Catherine sounds like a lovely name. I like it. My new name will be Catherine." She rolled the name Catherine silently again. The name had character a noble ring to it she really liked it.

2003, Michael O. Gregory, The Dead Years, page 35