I like
Kathleen. It doesn't seem 'classic' to me, but I don't think it's dated either. It can make a comeback, I think, but I think most people have kind of forgotten about it. I know one person named
Kathleen. She goes by
Kathleen and sometimes
Kathy.
I don't really think it's similar enough to
Katherine/
Catherine etc to compare them, because they give off a completely different vibe to me. If I had to use one, I would probably use
Kathleen because it's less common, but
Katherine /
Catherine etc. is 'prettier'. I only like
Kathleen, ot
Cathleen. I think
Cathleen looks odd...
Kathlyn looks very strange, but it's not any worse than other changed
Kate names.