Caitrin
A feminine name of Gaelic origin meaning "pure" or "perpetual bloom".
Name Census estimates that about 395 living Americans carry the first name Caitrin. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Caitrin today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caitrin births was 1986 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caitrin. 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 Caitrin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
395
~ 1 in 867,733 Americans
Peak year
1986
22 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2017 SSA rank
#16,329
Tracked since 1976
Census
Caitrin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 414 people with the first name Caitrin, which placed it at #23,579 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
#23,579
National first-name rank
People counted
414
414 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caitrin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caitrin is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.4%). 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 Caitrin 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 Caitrin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.1% · 373
- Two or more races4.1% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 10
- Hispanic or Latino2.2% · 9
- Black or African American0.7% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 2
Popularity
Caitrin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caitrin from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 126 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caitrin 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 Caitrin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Caitrin
Caitrin is a feminine given name with origins dating back to ancient Ireland. It is derived from the Irish Gaelic word "cáit," meaning "pure." The name is thought to have its roots in the 5th century CE, when it first emerged as a variant of the more common Irish name Caitlín.
In the 8th century CE, the name Caitrin appeared in several ancient Irish texts and manuscripts, including the Annals of Ulster and the Book of Leinster. These early mentions suggest that the name was in use among the Irish nobility and ruling classes during the medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Caitrin was Caitrin Ní Dhomhnaill, a 12th-century Irish noblewoman and the wife of the King of Tír Chonaill. She was a prominent figure in the political and cultural life of her time and was known for her patronage of the arts and literature.
In the 14th century, Caitrin Mac Murchadha, a renowned Irish poet and scholar, gained fame for her works celebrating the beauty of the Irish language and landscape. She was a significant figure in the preservation of Irish cultural traditions and is considered one of the most influential poets of the Middle Ages.
During the 16th century, Caitrin Dubh Ní Bhriain, also known as the "Black Caitrin," was a celebrated Irish chieftain and military leader. She led her clan in battles against English forces during the Tudor conquest of Ireland and is remembered for her bravery and fierce resistance.
Another notable figure was Caitrin Ní Chuilleanáin, a 17th-century Irish noblewoman and patron of the arts. She was renowned for her support of poets and musicians, and her court was a center of Irish cultural life during a period of great upheaval and conflict.
In the 19th century, Caitrin Ní Uallacháin was a prominent Irish language scholar and advocate for the preservation of the Irish language and culture. She played a significant role in the Gaelic revival movement and was instrumental in establishing Irish language schools and promoting the use of Irish in education.
People
Caitrin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caitrin 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
Caitrin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caitrin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 395 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caitrin 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 867,733 US residents.
Is Caitrin a common name?
We classify Caitrin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 410 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caitrin most popular?
The single biggest year for Caitrin was 1986, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caitrin is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caitrin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 414 people with the name Caitrin, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,579 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 Caitrin 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 Caitrin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caitrin appears almost entirely female. Of the 409 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Caitrin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caitrin is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.4%). 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 Caitrin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caitrin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.1% (373 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 Caitrin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caitrin a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caitrin 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 Caitrin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caitrin 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 Caitrin 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 named Caitrin?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.