Getting the category title / description returns first matching post?

For categories/taxonomies you can use get_queried_object to get the current category. From there you can easily get the name. So from your example:

if ( is_category() ) {
    $cat = get_queried_object();
    $heading = $cat->name;
}

Related Posts:

  1. Check if current category has subcategories
  2. wp_nav_menu not appearing for a couple pages
  3. wp_update_nav_menu_item() to insert categories
  4. How to get the url to tag & category base set by the user?
  5. Why adding Categories does not auto refresh in Backend while using my custom theme?
  6. is_archive() content being shown instead of is_category()
  7. Retrieve all posts within tag OR category?
  8. Edit the markup of categories list
  9. New Theme creation
  10. How to get data about category in category.php
  11. editing fonts of category links from the_category() funtion
  12. How to check category of of custom post type or not
  13. Set a them for all subset of category
  14. How to call custom category field data in theme?
  15. Different templates for different category tags
  16. Why category.php throw 404 in wordpress while calling paginate_links()?
  17. Woo Framework: woo_cat_featured not populating
  18. Inside a loop, how to change CSS class based on category name?
  19. Question on using custom structures for categories
  20. Allow user to select categories that will display in post loop
  21. Insert HTML content in WP Query at specific point
  22. How do I retrieve the category ID (ugly permalinks) in my sub-navigation menu?
  23. Category page returns 404 error
  24. Show post categories
  25. Add description to categories menu in admin
  26. filter a loop base on specific category
  27. Problem with multiple loops in wordpress theme
  28. How to add icon over specific thumb
  29. How to differentiate the homepage structure from the category page structure in WordPress template?
  30. How to detect /category and /tag base pages?
  31. WooCommerce shared categories
  32. Show the number of the post
  33. Products category search not working
  34. In if…else condition, the else statement shows even if if statement is correct
  35. Can’t display posts by filtering categories using isotope.js
  36. Media Library Categories
  37. How can I add HTML classes for current taxonomy/term hierarchy into my pages to simplify styles?
  38. Change single.php template based on parent category
  39. Show posts from all categories
  40. If it is a top level category show children otherwise show sibling categories
  41. Lowest catagory link
  42. How to get multiple loop in category.php, my scripts becomes madness
  43. Category base 404 – fix
  44. altering theme – content generated by PAGES not PORTFOLIO
  45. Category Archives: Show posts categorized in parent category only
  46. WordPress 3.5 how to determine if user is on category listing or category edit screen?
  47. Display only one level subcategory in wordpress
  48. How can i hide the authors box from a specific set of categories and post types?
  49. Get all first images of posts in same category
  50. How to display the category featured images [closed]
  51. How to make /category/ URL load properly instead of 404 error?
  52. Retrieve Product category ‘NAME’ by product category ID – WooCommerce?
  53. How to show subcategories in categories else show posts
  54. How to remove the parentheses from the category widget
  55. Filter front page posts by category
  56. Root level category, tag, author and archive pages to work
  57. Archive pagination causing 404 with permalinks structure
  58. Get a list of Terms for a specific category
  59. Get a variable from object in array [closed]
  60. a-z list, categories and sub categories in loop
  61. Category slug $_SERVER[‘REQUEST_URI’];
  62. wp_dropdown_categories and custom taxonomy + custom post type
  63. Linking products to categories
  64. Query Posts Exclude Entire Category
  65. One Specific Category To Permalink
  66. Hide woocommerce category name from specific pages
  67. WordPress category widget only show categories with children
  68. Woocommerce custom category page with pagination [closed]
  69. Menus don’t work after 4.4 [closed]
  70. Custom post and category template pagination problem
  71. Trying to add cat_ID to array for showing an image for specific Category
  72. How to change amount of categories listed on dashboard?
  73. Exclude a category name using cat name
  74. How to get posts by category at /%category%/ url?
  75. Echo text using is_tag
  76. Cannon see subcategory in permalink
  77. Custom row actions on a specific category
  78. How to not display a category post on blog page?
  79. Show multiple categories in query using redux framework variable
  80. How to display a block only for a certain category page
  81. Assignt automatically two categories by author
  82. Get multiple category names from permalink
  83. How to remove an item from a custom Walker_Nav_Menu
  84. Dynamically display sub-categories on primary menu without adding them
  85. display number of posts by category Shortcode
  86. Custom permalink /%category%/%postname%/ produces 404 on each post
  87. How to display products with multiple conditions, product_id and category_id
  88. Split posts into 2 separate streams
  89. Outputting subcategory title AND items on Category page
  90. Conditions for single post
  91. Pages, Categories, and working with someone else’s code
  92. Category articles “read more” links not active
  93. Custom Fields to Category edit page, then displaying them in a template correctly
  94. How to create a custom loop ordered by Categories on a Page Template?
  95. Post thats in Two Categories, only want to display name for one
  96. 2 Categories using same template but one has a problem? [closed]
  97. Make a category my homepage
  98. WooCommerce Product Search Error
  99. Images as Categories
  100. Is there a standard “Archive” block that shows ALL posts from a specified category?