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I love Kathleen. Caitlin isn't bad either, though I'm not sure if you mean the English pronunciation or Irish. I prefer Kathleen to Caitlin in both instances and prefer the Caitlin spelling over most (if not all) English variants.

Like Kathleen, Caitlin is dated and I don’t like the shape of it.

I'm reading a book where the main character is named Caitlín de Burca, changing it to Kathleen Burca when she moves to the UK.

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It bothers me a bit when Irish names are taken and mispronounced to the point they become different names. Ciara/Kirara becoming key-a-ra or cee-air-a, Caitlin becoming kate-lyn. If you are doing to use the pronunciation of kate-lyn then spell it Katelyn. If you're not in Ireland than use the spelling Kathleen.

Kathleen, although indisputably dated, is rather harmless. I don't care for the spelling of Caitlin at all. I think the name looks MUCH nicer with a 'K', spelled as either Kaitlin, Kaitlyn or as Katelyn. Even the diminituve of Kate looks significantly better than Cate.

Caitlin, mostly because I have a longstanding feud with -th-

Caitlin, like Katharine and all the Kate names, is tired. Kathleen is fresher, but too close to the Caitlin, Katelyn, Catherine, Kathryn etc, etc names to be interesting at the moment.

I like Kathleen. I get a very specific sensory association with it of a crisp apron being smoothened onto a sage green dress by a brisk housewife. It feels brisk and competent to me and that is appealing. Caitlin I'm still oversaturated by. I like it in as the middle name to unexpectedly rugged first names that defy its use in the 80s as costume jewelry. Bridget Caitlin. Inga Caitlin.

This message was edited 11/12/2022, 12:49 PM

I like them both, I prefer Katelyn though

I love Caitlin and pretty much every spelling variation.

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I used to like Kathleen, but I dislike it now. It sounds frumpy and dated.

If I had a daughter today her middle name would be Kathleen.
I don't really like the Caitlin spelling, even if it is the original correct Gaelic one. I do like Kaitlyn, and to a lesser extent Katelyn. I don't like Kaitlyn enough to want to use it, but I do like it.

I prefer Kathleen to Caitlin. I struggle with the original pronunciation of Caitlin, so I prefer Kathleen. However, I prefer Catelyn and Katelyn to both names.