... On the whole, Katherine would seem properly to be a namesake of the Alexandrian priness, Catherine, the Votaress of Sienna.  No name is more universal in all countries and in all ranks, partly from its own beauty of sound, partly from association, and none has more varied contractions.  Our truest old English ones are Kate and Kitty—the latter was almost universal in the last century, though now supplanted by the Scottish Katie and the graceful Irish Kathleen... (History of Christian Names, Yonge, 1884)