Kaytlin
Feminine · “pure”
Kaytlin arrived at the end of the wave rather than the start of it. By the time this spelling appears in the American record the family it belongs to already had a dozen live members, and it charted briefly and thinly — which is what happens to the last spellings of a name that has already been spelled every other way.
How old is the name Kaytlin?
Kaytlin first appears in US birth records in 1984 — 41 years ago. The typical Kaytlin alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 3,300 people named Kaytlin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaytlin most popular?
Kaytlin peaked in 1999, reaching #1018 nationally. See the whole 1999 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Caitlin to Kaytlin
The story of Kaytlin
Naming waves have a shape. A name arrives, one spelling dominates, then the alternatives multiply as the name becomes common enough that parents want to mark their child out inside it; and the alternatives that appear last are the most heavily marked and the least used, because by then the obvious variations are taken. Kaytlin belongs to that late stage: the y in the first syllable is the sort of substitution that is only reached once Kait, Cait and Kate have all been used. Its chart life is correspondingly short, and it sits at the tail of one of the largest spelling families in the American record.
Meaningscholars disagree
pure
The traditional reading of the Katherine names is pure, from a Greek word, but the sense was attached long after the name was in use and the original has no agreed source.
How the name formed
- Caitlin
- Kaitlin
- Kaytlin
Related forms: Caitlin
Pronouncing Kaytlin
KAYT-lin
Two syllables with the weight at the front. Every spelling in this family is said the same way, which is the reason there are so many of them.
Nicknames for Kaytlin
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
- 1984
- Most girls named
- 1999201 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1018reached in 1999
- Change vs 2023
- +85.7%13 in 2024, from 7
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.
Kaytlin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caitlin in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Kaytlins among us
people named Kaytlin 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
Kaytlin 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
- Both halves are readable, so the name is said correctly at sight.
- The y makes the first syllable unambiguous, which the c and k spellings do not.
- It carries the whole Katherine family's set of short forms.
- There are more than a dozen live spellings of this name and every one will be tried on you.
- It dates very precisely to the end of the twentieth century.
- No spelling in this family is the Irish one, and Irish speakers will point that out.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Kaytlin
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Kaytlins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,300 people named Kaytlin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kaytlin in 2025?
- Kaytlin is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Kaytlin with classmates?
- Kaytlin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaytlin? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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