Caitlan
Feminine · “unknown”
Caitlan is one of the many English attempts at an Irish name whose spelling follows a rule English does not have. Irish requires the vowels on either side of a consonant to match — slender with slender, broad with broad — and a great many of the vowels that look silent in an Irish word are there to satisfy it.
How old is the name Caitlan?
Caitlan first appears in US birth records in 1983 — 42 years ago. The typical Caitlan alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 1,000 people named Caitlan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Caitlan most popular?
Caitlan peaked in 1988, reaching #1541 nationally. See the whole 1988 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a Greek name of unrecovered meaning to Caitlan
The story of Caitlan
The rule has a name in Irish and every schoolchild learns it: slender with slender and broad with broad. A consonant flanked by e or i is pronounced one way; the same consonant flanked by a, o or u is pronounced another, and the difference is as important as the difference between two separate letters in English. So Irish spelling looks vowel-heavy to outsiders and is in fact extremely economical: it is writing information about consonants using the vowels, and doing it with a smaller alphabet than English has. Every English respelling of an Irish name throws that machinery away and keeps only the sound.
Meaningscholars disagree
unknown, though long read as pure
The Irish name came from a French form of Catherine, which came from a Greek name nobody has ever explained. The spelling is where the interest is. In Irish, consonants come in two flavors, broad and slender, and the flavor is shown by the vowels written next to them. That is why the Irish original has vowels that an English reader would call unnecessary: they are not sounds, they are instructions about the consonant beside them, and English has no equivalent at all.
How the name formed
- a Greek name of unrecovered meaning
- French Cateline reaches Ireland
- Irish spelling adapts it to the broad and slender rule
- English produces a dozen respellings
- Caitlan appears in American records in the 1980s
Related forms: Caitlin · Katelyn · Cateline
Pronouncing Caitlan
KAYT-lin
Two syllables, stress at the front, in English use. The Irish original is said differently — closer to KOTCH-leen — which is the source of a long and entirely justified complaint from Irish speakers.
Nicknames for Caitlan
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1983
- Most girls named
- 199088 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1541reached in 1988
- Change vs 2009
- 0.0%5 in 2012, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Caitlan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caitlin in Irish — spelling variant
- Katelyn in English — spelling variant
- Cateline in French — related form
Caitlans among us
people named Caitlan are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Caitlan sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The sound is completely familiar throughout the English-speaking world.
- Cait and Cat are both available and both are current.
- It is among the plainer spellings in a family famous for elaborate ones.
- There are more than a dozen spellings in circulation and she will be given most of them.
- The English pronunciation is not the Irish one, and Irish speakers will say so.
- It is closely dated to the 1980s and 1990s.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Caitlan to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Caitlan? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Caitlan
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Caitlans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Caitlan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Caitlan in 2025?
- Caitlan is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Caitlan with classmates?
- Caitlan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Carol#2239 · Cynthia#1013 · Catherine#313 · Christine#1272 · Carolyn#1222 · Christina#770 · Charlotte#2 · Cheryl#4352
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Caitlan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Caitlan and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle