MEANING & HISTORY
What does Caitlin mean?
Caitlin is the Anglicized spelling of Irish Caitlín. Caitlín comes through Old French Cateline from Katherine, giving the name a specific transmission path.
Katherine’s earliest root is disputed, although a later association with Greek purity strongly influenced its history. The Irish spelling therefore does not make pure a newly established Gaelic dictionary meaning. Caitlin preserves an inherited name through Irish and English writing, with the accent often omitted in the latter.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
A female given name from Irish Caitlín, equivalent to English Catherine.
Wiktionary: Caitlin (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Caitlin
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Caitlin Viray
Filipino indoor and beach volleyball player
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Wikidata
1
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Caitlin Viray
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Caitlin in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Caitlin
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Antolin♂Antolin/Antolín, from Latin Antoninus
- Antolín♂Spanish form of Antoninus
- Caelan♂Anglicized Caolán or a Kaylyn variant
- Cain·Hebrew Qayin, with competing acquired or craftsman accounts
- Calvin♂From a surname associated with bald
- Carlyn♀Contracted form of Caroline
- Carolina♀Latinate feminine of Carolus, in the Charles family
- Caroline♀French feminine of Carolus, in the Charles family
What rhymes with Caitlin?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Explore Caitlin further
Follow the sources
- Wikidata given-name item Q5017875 — Caitlin (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Caitlin Viray (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q5017875 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Caitlin (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Caitlin (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.
- Behind the Name — Caitlín (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.
- Behind the Name — Katherine (opens in a new tab)
Root debated; the later pure association reshaped Latin spelling rather than establishing an ancient Gaelic gloss. Page directly fetched and read with HTTP200 after browser timeout.