The Greek word "Katholikos" means "universal". St. Cyril of Jerusalem says in his Catecheses (AD 348), the church is called Katholikos on the ground of its worldwide extension, its doctrinal completeness, its adaptation to the needs of men of every kind, and its moral and spiritual perfection.

It was the name of the original Christian church and we can prove this from the writings of St. Ignatius of antioch, who was a close friend and disciple of St John (the last apostle to die, near the end of the 1st century). Very soon after that time Ignatius wrote this letter to the church at Smyrna as he was on his way to Rome to be thrown to wild animals. Check it out: "Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper(18) Eucharist, which is[administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude[of the people] also be; by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude[of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." You can find this and all the other writings of the ECF (Early Church Fathers) here: http://www.catholicfirst.com/thefaith/churchfathers/volume01/volume01.cfm Pax vobiscum,

The word Catholic (katholikos from katholou -- throughout the whole, i.e., universal) occurs in the Greek classics, e.g., in Aristotle and Polybius, and was freely used by the earlier Christian writers in what we may call its primitive and non-ecclesiastical sense. Thus we meet such phrases as the "the catholic resurrection" (Justin Martyr), "the catholic goodness of God" (Tertullian), "the four catholic winds" (Irenaeus), where we should now speak of "the general resurrection", "the absolute or universal goodness of God", "the four principal winds", etc. The word seems in this usage to be opposed to merikos (partial) or idios (particular), and one familiar example of this conception still survives in the ancient phrase "Catholic Epistles" as applied to those of St. Peter, St. Jude, etc., which were so called as being addressed not to particular local communities, but to the Church at large. The combination "the Catholic Church" (he katholike ekklesia) is found for the first time in the letter of St. Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, written about the year 110. The words run: "Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be, even as where Jesus may be, there is the universal [katholike] Church. The third mark of the Church is that she is Catholic, that is, universal; and justly is she called Catholic, because, as St. Augustine says, 'she is diffused by the splendour of one faith from the rising to the setting sun'.

The word Catholic was used prior to the year 107 by St. Ignatius of Antioch. Catholic means universal, and it was used to describe the church which was meant to be universal, all over the world, as well as to all people. We know it was used prior to 107, because this is the normally accepted year of Ignatius's death, although he may have died later or earlier than this by maybe 10 years either way.