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Once Upon A Time, I briefly liked Caitlin. What turned me off was that I wanted to call my dd Katie and I didn't like any K spellings of the name because they just seemed wrong. Kate spelled with a C seemed equally wrong. I never knew Katelyn would take off in popularity the way it did (ditto with Kaitlyn) because at the time (1988), I pronounced it with three syllables (like Madelyn). I didn't know anyone with the name and had no idea of Caitlin's popularity. I'm so glad I never used it. My girls went to school with lots of them (various spellings). Among all the Caitlins (et al), there was one Kathleen and it really stood out to me.

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Fave nns: Kate, Katie, Cat

I like the Irish spelling Caitlin and the variant Katelyn. I prefer Katherine though. Caitlin sounds slightly dated, but still useable to me. I adore the name and spelling of Kate, and Cait would not be an obvious spelling for Cate.

This message was edited 6/10/2019, 1:34 PM

I do have some love for Caitlin, and I always have. I like the name in full, but I also like Cate as a nickname.

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I doubt I'd ever use it, but if I were forced I wouldn't hate it.

Hate/hate/hate, sorry.

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I do like the medieval Cateline.

I only like Caitlin.
I've never considered Kate and Lynn to be anything but NNs. So any -ATE+LYN-variant smacks of gluing together two NNs to get a fancy spelling of a name that already exists.

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I like both Cait and Tillie as NNs.

There are just too darn many variants! Caitlin used to be pretty and pleasant; now it's just one of the crowd.

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I've heard Kay and Kate (or, no doubt, Cay and Cait) as nns and both are sadly overused. If necessary, I'd go for Katharine; or maybe even Katrina or Catriona.

as much as i try not to be judgemental about similar names...

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i respect and pity Caitlin. Katelyn, however, is the root of all evil. i feel bad for any Katelyns out there who are good people and are being sullied by the other Katelyns.

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my favorite nickname is Grate as in grate on my gears, or Kate?TimetoRun. my fave variant is Pandora, as in her box.

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seriously though, i'd love Katherine if not for Kate :(

This message was edited 6/9/2019, 8:48 PM

I think Caitlin is nice, although its not my personal style. I only like this spelling.

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I have been liking Kathleen more and more lately, it used to sound really dated to me, but now I feel like it could be a charming alternative to Caitlin.

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I think Caitlin's are usually called Kate or Katie, maybe Kat. My niece Caitlin (15) is Kate.

I like just Kate / Cate. And Kathleen. I like the look of Caitlin. All the others are just bleh, heard it too much.

I literally feel nothing. I think I knew so many of them growing up, it numbed me to it.

I like the name a lot. But I much prefer Kaitlyn or Katelyn. Caitlin just doesn't look right, even though I know it's the original spelling. It looks to me like it's contrived, like Myshelle or Tiphinie would.

I actually really like it *runs and hides*

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My favorite variants are the original Caitlin, as well as Kaitlin, Kaitlyn, and Katelyn (the last three mainly because I know awesome people with those variants)

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Katelyn obviously lends itself well to Kate and Katie, but Cait and Kait work for the other variants.

I love Caitlin, and I like Cateline but I absolutely hate all the the other english spellings. Nicknames: Cait/ Cate

It's my middle name, and before I got a *sense* of it and the way it was perceived, I liked it. I thought it was pretty. I really like Katherine and its variants in general. So I naturally liked it. But when I realized how trendy it was and how many people were called it I started to resent it. My sister's MN is Grace, so I don't think my parents were particularly inventive on the MN front. But in its essence I like it. It's a pretty name. It just doesn't have a great vibe atm and will soon be horribly, horribly dated. It flows well with my FN and LN too, I think.

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Caitlin is the only spelling I really like - I can tolerate Katelynn as a composite of Kate and Lynn, but it's NMS at all, and I dislike any alternative spellings of Caitlin as Caitlin.

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I have a friend whose name is Caitlin, and they go by Caitie with their family, and usually Cait or Caitlin with friends. To those to whom they're out as non-binary, they're Cai/Kai. I also have another friend whose sister is Caitlin "Caitie". My aunt is Cait (just Cait). She was born Kate but when my parents named me she really liked Caitlin and so she changed the spelling.

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I don't like nicknames for Caitlin for some reason. I guess it's because it's my MN and so it feels like middle names Aren't Allowed. If I had to choose, Cait. Cai feels right for the person I call Cai, but not as a general nickname. I hate Caitie. Weird, because I quite like Katy for Katherine or Kathleen or whatever.

Not paticularly, no. It's just one of those names that just feel insubstantial to me and even flimsy. I've met some pretty lousy individuals with this name and one in paticular, (named Katelyn) pretty much tarnished it for me. I had to deal with her from kindergarten ALL the way up to the 12th grade. so it's hard not to think about her whenever I hear the name, especially if I see it spelled that way.
There were times where she would be civil and nice and other times she would be rude for no reason. She didn't have much intelligent, or common sense, and was a pathological liar. She would constantly make up these lies even when they were PAINFULLY obvious.
Alot of students didn't care for her and made no secret about it, not that I blamed them.

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I don't like any of the 'C' spellings. At all. And despite having bad associations with it, I think 'Katelyn' is the nicest spelling, followed by 'Kaitlyn'
I like Kate and Katie though.

I like Caitlin. Yes, its dated in the USA, but I still find it cute. I know a lot of women named Katelyn, who are around my age, so it will probably seem like a mom name to future generations. In around 50 years, it will be a vintage Grandma name and might make a comeback.

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Katelyn seems sporty and slightly more trendy. I picture Katelyn as someone who used to be on the school softball team and still enjoys tossing around the ball in the yard. She likes going to popular rock concerts, and still wears ugg boots and leggings. She is a proud future soccer mom.

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Caitlin has a slightly more Medieval vibe, and I picture one as calm and quiet with a quirky personality. She participated in the Latin Club and the Math League. Currently, she is probably still working on her doctoral thesis and attends historical reenactments and Renaissance faires in her spare time.

This message was edited 6/9/2019, 11:42 AM

Hi !!!

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I like Cateline (Old French).

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Nicknames?
Lili
Tilly
Callie
Kitty
Lana
Kay
Leta
Tala
Cat
Talia

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All great ones!

This message was edited 6/9/2019, 12:32 PM

I like Katelyn - controversially, I know - but this spelling lends more neatly to the nickname Kate which I like. I'd probably prefer to use Kate on its own but I don't dislike Katelyn.

I have to say that I have some love for it, because back when I was pregnant with my son in 1986, I considered Caitlin if it was a girl. As much as I criticize people for not knowing/not caring about a name's popularity, I have to admit that I was unaware at that time that Caitlin had entered the top hundred the year before. And I was completely unaware that the most popular spelling variant, Katelyn, even existed. The two spellings combined add up to a greater level of popularity than looking at the statistics for each separately indicates.

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So of course it wasn't a girl and I had a feeling it wouldn't be, and when I gave birth to my son we still hadn't definitely decided on a girl's name. I like to think we wouldn't have chosen Caitlin if it had been a girl, as I'd be cringing about that now. (Yes, I would. My sister has a sixteen-year-old daughter named Kaylin and she cringes about her name.)

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But I'd be cringing because Caitlin / Katelyn / other spelling variants are so ubiquitous and now dated, not because of the name itself. I liked it enough to consider it then, so I have to think my negative reaction to the name now is only because of the ubiquity already mentioned, and that somewhere buried underneath that, I still like the name.

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I've never thought of a nickname for it. I suppose I like Cait. Caitlin is the only spelling I'd use.