Caitriona
An Irish feminine name derived from the Gaelic word "cathróin," meaning virtuous or pure.
Name Census estimates that about 257 living Americans carry the first name Caitriona. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Caitriona today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caitriona births was 2018 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caitriona. 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 Caitriona with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
257
~ 1 in 1,333,674 Americans
Peak year
2018
17 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,364
Tracked since 1987
Census
Caitriona in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 316 people with the first name Caitriona, which placed it at #28,429 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
#28,429
National first-name rank
People counted
316
316 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caitriona
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caitriona is White at 86.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Caitriona 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 Caitriona at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.4% · 273
- Two or more races6.3% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
- Black or African American0.3% · 1
Popularity
Caitriona: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caitriona from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 97 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caitriona 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 Caitriona 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 Caitriona
The name Caitriona originates from the Irish Gaelic language and has its roots in ancient Celtic culture. It is the feminine form of the Irish name Caitríona, which is derived from the Gaelic word "cáith" meaning "pure" or "bright." The name's earliest known spelling was Caitríona, dating back to the Middle Ages in Ireland.
Caitriona was a popular name among Irish nobility and the ruling classes during the medieval period. One of the earliest recorded bearers of this name was Caitriona Ní Cheallaigh, a 15th-century Irish noblewoman and poet from County Roscommon, who is celebrated for her contributions to Irish literature and language preservation.
In the 16th century, Caitriona Ní Mháille, also known as Grace O'Malley (c. 1530-1603), was a renowned Irish pirate queen and chieftain of the Ó Máille clan in western Ireland. She is remembered for her naval exploits, her defiance of English rule, and her negotiations with Queen Elizabeth I.
Another notable Caitriona was Caitriona Ní Dhubhagáin (1670-1738), an Irish noblewoman and poet from County Limerick, who wrote extensively in the Irish language and is considered one of the last great Gaelic poets of the ancient tradition.
In the 19th century, Caitriona Ni Chleirich (1824-1897), also known as Kate Clerk, was an Irish language scholar and storyteller from County Kerry. She played a crucial role in preserving and recording traditional Irish tales and folklore, which influenced later writers and scholars.
More recently, Caitriona Balfe (born 1979) is an Irish actress and model, best known for her award-winning role as Claire Fraser in the Starz television series "Outlander." Her portrayal of the time-traveling World War II nurse has brought renewed attention to the name Caitriona in popular culture.
While the name Caitriona has deep historical roots in Ireland, it has also gained international recognition and popularity in recent decades, transcending its Celtic origins and becoming a celebrated name across various cultures.
People
Caitriona + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caitriona 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
Caitriona: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caitriona?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 257 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caitriona 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 1,333,674 US residents.
Is Caitriona a common name?
We classify Caitriona as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 261 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caitriona most popular?
The single biggest year for Caitriona was 2018, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caitriona is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caitriona in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 316 people with the name Caitriona, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,429 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 Caitriona 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 Caitriona?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caitriona leans strongly female. 317 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Caitriona?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caitriona is White at 86.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.3%) and Hispanic (4.7%). 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 Caitriona most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caitriona in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.4% (273 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 Caitriona in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caitriona a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caitriona 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 Caitriona still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caitriona 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 Caitriona 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 Americans are named Caitriona?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.