Kailin
Feminine
Kailin is given to both — 1,221 girls and 189 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Kailin is Caitlin with the t removed, and that t is not a small loss. Caitlin is the Irish form of Catherine and the t belongs to it — Caitlín, from Cateline, from Catherine — so deleting it severs the name from a two-thousand-year line and leaves a shape that means nothing.
How old is the name Kailin?
Kailin first appears in US birth records in 1981 — 44 years ago. The typical Kailin alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 1,200 people named Kailin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kailin most popular?
Kailin peaked in 1997, reaching #2328 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 4,805 places below that high. See the whole 1997 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aikaterine to Kailin
The story of Kailin
Caitlin entered American use in the 1970s and became very large in the 1980s and 1990s, and it arrived with a pronunciation problem: in Irish, Caitlín is KATCH-leen, and Americans said KAYT-lin instead. Once a name is being said differently from how it is spelled, respelling follows immediately, and Caitlin generated one of the largest spelling clusters in American history — Katelyn, Kaitlin, Caitlyn, Katelynn, Kaitlynn, Kaylin, Kailin. The t-less spellings sit at the far end of that cluster, where the connection to the Irish name has been fully dissolved. Kailin peaked in 1997.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Caitlín is the Irish form of Old French Cateline, itself from Catherine, from Greek Aikaterine — a settled chain, whatever the Greek name's own obscure origin. Kailin has lost the consonant that identifies it as a member of that family. It may still be intended as Caitlin, or it may be Kai plus -lin. The spelling does not say and no meaning can be given confidently.
How the name formed
- Aikaterine
- Cateline
- Caitlín
- Kaitlin
- Kailin
Related forms: Caitlín · Kaitlin
Pronouncing Kailin
KAY-lin
Two syllables with the stress on the first and the second vowel fully reduced. Kailin, Kaylin, Kaylyn and Kaelyn are identical aloud. The Irish Caitlín is a different word entirely, KATCH-leen.
Nicknames for Kailin
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
- 1981
- Most girls named
- 199757 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2328reached in 1997
- Change vs 2024
- −11.8%15 in 2025, from 17
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.
Kailin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caitlín in Irish — related form
- Kaitlin in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Kailins among us
people named Kailin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Kailin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kailin
- #7133
- Kailin on the 2025 chart
- #447
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kailin went to 15 girls in 2025, but Kaylynn, Kaylin and Kailyn and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 12 spellings went to 616, which makes it the 447th most-given girls’ name of the year — 6,686 places above the chart.
and 4 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 2,609 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 107,151 for Kailin itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Raynell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kailin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Raynell climbed just as high around 1948, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Raynell's path sketches the road Kailin is walking now.
Kailin sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Kailin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kailin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The sound is completely familiar and needs no explanation.
- Kai is a strong, current short form that works for either sex.
- It is shorter than most spellings in its family.
- Removing the t severs the connection to Catherine that the name's history rests on.
- There are more than ten live spellings of this sound.
- The 1997 peak dates it precisely.
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What they receive
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Kailin
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kailins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Kailin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kailin?
- Kailin is one of 8 recorded spellings. Kaylynn is the more common one — 134 births in 2025 against 15 for Kailin.
- How popular is the name Kailin in 2025?
- Kailin ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kailin?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Kailin — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kailin with classmates?
- Kailin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kailin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pennie#7133 · Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Ione#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kailin? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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