Rising since 2022, #8,860 for girls today.
Popularity of Caitlynn since 1985
Babies named Caitlynn per year in U.S. Social Security records.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1980s | 191 |
| 1990s | 1,793 |
| 2000s | 2,050 |
| 2010s | 828 |
| 2020s | 85 |
Meaning & origin
Caitlynn belongs to a cluster of stylish 1990s respellings of the classic Irish name Caitlin. First recorded in the U.S. in 1985, it peaked in 1998 when it ranked 886th nationally. After a long decline, the name has been rising again since 2022, a trajectory shared with other 'Kaitlyn' forms. Its modern spelling with a double 'n' distinguishes it from the simpler Caitlyn and aligns it with the -lynn suffix trend popular in the 1990s. Though the name has never been confined to particular states, its usage is broadly distributed, reflecting its American origin as a creative respelling.
Caitlynn is a modern American respelling of Caitlin, itself the Irish form of Catherine. Catherine ultimately derives from the Greek Aikaterinē, associated with the word katharos for 'pure'. The name entered Irish usage through the Latin Catharina, becoming Caitlín. From the 1970s, the spelling Caitlyn and its variants surged in the United States, influenced by the actress Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce) and the general trend toward creative respellings ending in -lynn.
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Cait, Cate, Catie, Lynnie
Sibling names for Caitlynn
Names that share Caitlynn's style, for a brother or sister.
