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Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!
You asked whether the name <Katherine of Lorraine> conforms to medieval practice as a name for someone from Lorraine.
The answer to your question depends on just when and where the persona lives; we'll discuss a couple of possibilities. Before doing so, though, we should mention that the byname is unlikely to have been used by someone who actually lived in Lorraine. [10]
If the persona is living in France, a French form of the given name is wanted. The usual French form in the 16th century seems to be <Catherine>, which is also the modern form. [2, 5] In the 1292 Paris Tax Roll, however, the name appears as <Caterine> and <Katerine>. [3] In general it appears that in both France and England the <th> spellings date mostly from the 16th century, and we have no late French examples with initial <K>. [9]
<Lorraine> is not only a place-name, but also the term for a woman from Lorraine. In principle a woman from Lorraine might have been described (in modern spelling) either as <de Lorraine> 'of Lorraine' or as <la Lorraine> 'the Lorraine-woman'. In practice the latter was more common. [4] In the 1292 Paris Tax Roll, for instance, we find <la Lohorrainne> and the masculine <le Loorrain>, for which the corresponding feminine form would be <la Loorraine> or <la
Loorrainne>. <Katerine la Lohorrainne> would be an excellent French
name c.1300 for a woman from Lorraine. (Of course <Caterine> could
also be used, as could <la Loorrain(n)e>.)
By the 16th century most articles and prepositions had been dropped, and the name would probably have been written <Catherine Lorraine> or the like. However, by then the great majority of French surnames were hereditary, so the name would not imply that the bearer was herself from Lorraine.
In England the spellings are a little different, but the overall picture is very similar. The most common medieval spelling of the given name seems to be the Latinized <Katarina>, occasionally varied by <Caterina>. This probably represents a vernacular <Katerine>. However, there are a few 14th century examples of <Katherine> (assuming that the spelling hasn't been modernized by some editor along the chain of sources). [8]
The byname came into England with the Normans. Early examples of the masculine are based on the early Old French spelling <Lohereng> but follow the same usage as the later Paris examples: [6, 7]
le Lohareng 1163
le Loreng 1197
le Loereng' 1200
le Loreng 1275
In the 14th century, however, we find some examples with the preposition instead of the article, e.g., <de Loryng> 1343 and (from Scotland) <de Lorreyne> 1333. [1, 6]
<Katarina la Loreng> is a likely 13th century English documentary form of the name. In the 14th century <Katharine de Lorreyne> appears to a possible form, though <Katerina> or <Caterina> are still more likely forms of the given name. By 1400 or so the preposition or article would have disappeared, and <Katherine
Loring> is probably the likeliest 16th century English version of
the name.
Arval Benicoeur also contributed to this letter. We hope that the information is useful and encourage you to write again if you have any further questions.
For the Academy,
Talan Gwynek
[1] Black, George F. The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History (New York: The New York Public Library, 1989).
[2] Cateline de la Mor. 'Sixteenth Century Norman Names' (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997).
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/cateline/norman16.html
[3] Colm Dubh. 'An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris' (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1996; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997).
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html
[4] Dauzat, Albert. Les Noms de Famille de France. 2nd ed. (Paris: Payot, 1949).
[5] Dauzat, Albert. Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille et Prénoms de France (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1989). (The slash stands for an acute accent on the preceding vowel.)
[6] Ewen, C. L'Estrange. A History of Surnames of the British Isles (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1968 [1931]).
[7] Reaney, P.H. & R.M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames (London: Routledge, 1991).
[8] Talan Gwynek. 'Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames' (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996).
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/reaney/
[9] Withycombe, E. G. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984).
[10] In most cases, a byname derived from the name of a region was used by someone who had moved away from that region and was now living elsewhere. In her new home, the fact that she was 'of Lorraine' was a useful distinguishing characteristic. Back home in Lorraine, everyone was 'of Lorraine', so it was rarely useful to describe someone that way. There are numerous exceptions to this principle, but it's still a good first approximation to the truth.