Family name origins & meanings
- German : metronymic from a pet form of the female personal name Katharina.
- German : nickname from Low German Ketter ‘heretic’ (standard German Ketzer).
- German : Austrian variant of the topographic name Köther, from Middle High German kote ‘hut’, ‘cottage of a day laborer’ (see Koth).
- German : possibly a derivative of Middle High German keten(e) ‘chain’ (see Ketterer).
- Dutch : nickname from Middle Dutch catter ‘heretic’. Compare 2 above.