Caitlen
A feminine name derived from the Celtic form of Catherine, meaning "pure."
Name Census estimates that about 371 living Americans carry the first name Caitlen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Caitlen today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caitlen births was 1998 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caitlen. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Caitlen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
371
~ 1 in 923,866 Americans
Peak year
1998
34 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2009 SSA rank
#13,961
Tracked since 1985
Census
Caitlen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 362 people with the first name Caitlen, which placed it at #25,958 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#25,958
National first-name rank
People counted
362
362 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caitlen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caitlen is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.3%) and Black (3.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Caitlen described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Caitlen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.1% · 290
- Hispanic or Latino8.3% · 30
- Black or African American3.9% · 14
- Two or more races3.9% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
Popularity
Caitlen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caitlen from the 1980s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 207 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Caitlen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caitlen by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Caitlen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caitlens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Caitlen, while Georgia, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caitlen
The name Caitlen is a variant spelling of the Irish feminine name Caitlín, which is the Irish Gaelic form of the name Catherine. The name Catherine ultimately derives from the Greek name Aikaterine, which itself is of uncertain etymology, potentially stemming from either the Greek words "katharos" meaning "pure" or from "aikia" meaning "torture." In medieval times, it became associated with the Greek word "kathaire" meaning "destroy."
Caitlín emerged as a Gaelic form of Catherine, with various spellings like Caitlen becoming common in Ireland and Scotland. The earliest recorded instance of the variant Caitlen dates back to the late 16th century when it appeared in Irish parish records. While not as widespread as Catherine, Caitlen gained a foothold in these regions as a distinct name in its own right.
In terms of historical figures bearing the name Caitlen, one notable example is Caitlen Ni Uallacháin (c. 1582 – 1646), an Irish noblewoman and the wife of the famous Irish chieftain Rory O'Moore. Another early recorded bearer of the name was Caitlen Inghean Ruaidhri (c. 1615 – 1680), a Scottish poet and historian known for her works documenting the history of the Clan MacLeod.
Moving into more modern times, Caitlen Ross (1843 – 1924) was a prominent Scottish suffragette and advocate for women's rights, while Caitlen Mhàiri NicDhòmhnaill (1878 – 1964) was a celebrated Scottish Gaelic singer and tradition-bearer from the Isle of South Uist. In the 20th century, Caitlen Mhòr Nighean Iain (1901 – 1987), known as Kate Morrison, was a respected bearer and teacher of Scottish Gaelic songs and traditions.
While not as ubiquitous as the spelling Catherine, the name Caitlen has endured as a distinct feminine name, particularly in areas with Irish and Scottish Gaelic heritage, carrying forward a centuries-old tradition of this Gaelic form of the name.
People
Caitlen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caitlen as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Caitlen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caitlen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 371 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caitlen going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 923,866 US residents.
Is Caitlen a common name?
We classify Caitlen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 383 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caitlen most popular?
The single biggest year for Caitlen was 1998, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caitlen is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caitlen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 362 people with the name Caitlen, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,958 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Caitlen in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Caitlen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caitlen appears almost entirely female. Of the 366 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Caitlen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caitlen is White at 80.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.3%) and Black (3.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Caitlen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caitlen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.1% (290 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Caitlen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caitlen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caitlen in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Caitlen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caitlen in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Caitlen can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Caitlen?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.