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In the US I've noticed people in the northeast say Carolyn and people in the south say Caroline (because of South and North Carolina I assumed). This is not 100% of the time of course

People pronounce Madeline as Madelyn all the time...

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So it's a trend that people have picked up on to pronounce -line as -lyn. Plus Carolyn seems more popular, at least where I live, so a lot of people just think Caroline is a different way to spell it. And for many Caroline's, I'm sure their name is pronounced as "Carolyn" because their parents didn't think about the distinction between the two names.

This message was edited 3/4/2014, 8:06 PM

In the 70s TV show "Little House on the Prairie", the character Charles Ingalls, as played by Michael Landon, pronounced his wife Caroline's name as "Carolyn." Why, I don't know. I don't know if it was decided the character would do that because that's the way Caroline would be pronounced in the Midwest in the nineteenth century, or if it was because that's the way the actor pronounced it. That's the only time I've heard Caroline pronounced that way.

there's some comedian who does a comedy routine about it - never call a Caroline "Carolyn" ha.

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can't remember who it is.

It definitely happens to my sister Caroline too, so obviously there are plenty of people out there who have trouble with this!