diff --git a/internal/repository/pg_contact.go b/internal/repository/pg_contact.go
index 12de55a4..89cc5834 100644
--- a/internal/repository/pg_contact.go
+++ b/internal/repository/pg_contact.go
@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@ type ContactRepository interface {
 	// block sending.
 	SetContactESP(ctx context.Context, contactID uuid.UUID, provider string) error
 	GetByEmailsAndUser(ctx context.Context, userID uuid.UUID, emails []string) (map[string]models.Contact, *errx.Error)
+	// ResolveCategoryNames maps category titles (as typed in an imported file)
+	// to the caller's category IDs, creating the ones that don't exist yet.
+	// Keys of the returned map are the lowercased titles.
+	ResolveCategoryNames(ctx context.Context, userID uuid.UUID, names []string) (map[string]uuid.UUID, *errx.Error)
 	Search(ctx context.Context, userID string, category, cursor *string, filters models.SearchContacts, limit int32) (*models.ContactsResult, *errx.Error)
 	// SearchCounts returns org-wide contact facet totals for the browse
 	// sidebar (independent of any search filters), mirroring campaigns-overview.
@@ -1935,6 +1939,98 @@ func (r *contactRepository) Delete(ctx context.Context, userID string, orgID uui
 // the given list, scoped to a single user. Used by the import path to
 // detect collisions before doing the bulk upsert. The map is keyed by
 // lowercased email so the caller doesn't have to normalize again.
+// MaxImportCategoryNames bounds how many distinct category titles one import
+// may introduce. A column of free text mapped to Categories by mistake would
+// otherwise mint a category per row.
+const MaxImportCategoryNames = 100
+
+func (r *contactRepository) ResolveCategoryNames(ctx context.Context, userID uuid.UUID, names []string) (map[string]uuid.UUID, *errx.Error) {
+	out := make(map[string]uuid.UUID, len(names))
+	wanted := make([]string, 0, len(names))
+	seen := make(map[string]string, len(names)) // lowered -> original casing
+	for _, raw := range names {
+		title := strings.TrimSpace(raw)
+		if title == "" {
+			continue
+		}
+		if len(title) > 50 {
+			return nil, errx.New(errx.BadRequest,
+				"category name "+strconv.Quote(title)+" is longer than 50 characters")
+		}
+		lower := strings.ToLower(title)
+		if _, dup := seen[lower]; dup {
+			continue
+		}
+		seen[lower] = title
+		wanted = append(wanted, lower)
+	}
+	if len(wanted) == 0 {
+		return out, nil
+	}
+	if len(wanted) > MaxImportCategoryNames {
+		return nil, errx.New(errx.BadRequest, fmt.Sprintf(
+			"the categories column has %d distinct values; at most %d can be created in one import",
+			len(wanted), MaxImportCategoryNames))
+	}
+
+	rows, err := r.DB.Query(ctx, `
+		SELECT id, LOWER(title) FROM categories
+		WHERE user_id = $1 AND LOWER(title) = ANY($2::text[])
+	`, userID, wanted)
+	if err != nil {
+		db.CaptureError(err, "", nil, "ResolveCategoryNames query")
+		return nil, errx.InternalError()
+	}
+	for rows.Next() {
+		var id uuid.UUID
+		var lower string
+		if err := rows.Scan(&id, &lower); err != nil {
+			rows.Close()
+			db.CaptureError(err, "", nil, "ResolveCategoryNames scan")
+			return nil, errx.InternalError()
+		}
+		out[lower] = id
+	}
+	rows.Close()
+	if err := rows.Err(); err != nil {
+		db.CaptureError(err, "", nil, "ResolveCategoryNames rows")
+		return nil, errx.InternalError()
+	}
+
+	missing := make([]string, 0, len(wanted))
+	for _, lower := range wanted {
+		if _, ok := out[lower]; !ok {
+			missing = append(missing, lower)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(missing) == 0 {
+		return out, nil
+	}
+
+	// Positions continue after whatever the user already has, so the new
+	// categories land at the end of their list instead of colliding.
+	var nextPos int32
+	if err := r.DB.QueryRow(ctx,
+		`SELECT COALESCE(MAX(position), -1) + 1 FROM categories WHERE user_id = $1`,
+		userID).Scan(&nextPos); err != nil {
+		db.CaptureError(err, "", nil, "ResolveCategoryNames position")
+		return nil, errx.InternalError()
+	}
+	for _, lower := range missing {
+		id := uuid.New()
+		if _, err := r.DB.Exec(ctx, `
+			INSERT INTO categories (id, user_id, title, color, position)
+			VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5)
+		`, id, userID, seen[lower], defaultGroupColor(nextPos), nextPos); err != nil {
+			db.CaptureError(err, "", nil, "ResolveCategoryNames insert")
+			return nil, errx.InternalError()
+		}
+		out[lower] = id
+		nextPos++
+	}
+	return out, nil
+}
+
 func (r *contactRepository) GetByEmailsAndUser(ctx context.Context, userID uuid.UUID, emails []string) (map[string]models.Contact, *errx.Error) {
 	out := make(map[string]models.Contact, len(emails))
 	if len(emails) == 0 {