Kaitlyn

With this trendy new spelling of an old Irish girls’ name, we’re not surprised to see than Kaitlyn first enters the American popularity charts very recently in the year 1983. The traditional Caitlin (without the accent mark, of course) was first to debut on the U.S. charts in 1976. Once the old Irish name firmly establishes itself on the charts indicating wide acceptance, American parents start to introduce spelling variations (just look at how many forms of the Irish Caitlin are currently on the charts!). This follows a typical pattern of American naming practices. We adopt a personal name into our own lexicon from elsewhere (in this case, Ireland), and then we make up new spellings. At first, we opt for closer phonetic forms of the name – and then, when the name becomes too popular, we start to differentiate ourselves from the pack by essentially making-up wild, almost arbitrary respellings. Not only did Americans succeed in changing the spelling of Caitlín, but we also altered the elocution. The name is traditionally pronounced “Koit-leen” or “Kotch-leen” in Ireland – the name Kate-lynn is more America. Despite Americans current love-affair with Celtic names, we’re still adamant about respellings and inventing new forms. If you are of Irish descent, or a true admirer of Celtic tradition, we suggest you go with Caitlin over Kaitlyn. But we have to concede that Kaitlyn is the more favored.