Caitlín
the Irish form of Catherine
In Irish it is kat-LEEN, with the stress on the long í. The anglicised KAYT-lin is a different treatment of the same name, and both are in use — Kathleen came from the Irish, and Caitlyn came back from the English.
- th → h — never the English th
- á é í ó ú (the fada) → a long vowel — and never optional
Cathleen Ni Houlihan, Caitlín Ní Uallacháin, is Ireland personified as an old woman who sends young men out to die and is made young again by their sacrifice; Yeats and Lady Gregory put her on the Dublin stage in 1902. The name's American spelling, Caitlin, is usually said quite differently from the Irish.
- Caitlín R. Kiernan (born 1964) — writer
- Caitlín Maude (1941–1982) — Irish poet, actor and singer
- Caitlin McGuinness (born 2002) — Northern Irish footballer
- Caitlín Brugha (1879–1959) — Irish politician
Irish people with an English Wikipedia article whose given name is recorded as Caitlín on Wikidata; descriptions from Wikidata.
Meanings follow Ó Corráin & Maguire's Irish Names and Woulfe; pronunciations give the commonest Irish-English form. Know this name better — a dialect pronunciation, a family tradition? Tell us. · All Irish names A–Z