Caytlyn
Feminine name derived from French, meaning "pure or innocent maiden".
Name Census estimates that about 153 living Americans carry the first name Caytlyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Caytlyn today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caytlyn births was 1998 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caytlyn. 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.
People living today
153
~ 1 in 2,240,224 Americans
Peak year
1998
14 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2011 SSA rank
#17,306
Tracked since 1989
Census
Caytlyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 178 people with the first name Caytlyn, which placed it at #41,266 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
#41,266
National first-name rank
People counted
178
178 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caytlyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caytlyn is White at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) 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 Caytlyn 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 Caytlyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.7% · 140
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 21
- Black or African American3.9% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 6
- Two or more races2.2% · 4
Popularity
Caytlyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caytlyn from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 75 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caytlyn 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 Caytlyn 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 Caytlyn
The given name Caytlyn is a modern variant spelling of the more traditional feminine name Caitlin or Caitlyn, which is an Anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Caitlín. The name Caitlín is a ancient Irish name derived from the Old Irish Cáit, which is a diminutive form of the Old Celtic name Cathríona. Cathríona itself is derived from the Old Celtic elements "cath" meaning "battle" and the diminutive suffix "-ín" meaning "little one", so the name Caitlín essentially means "little battle-mighty one".
The name Caitlín has its origins in early medieval Ireland and was a popular name among Irish families for centuries. It first appeared in Irish historical records and manuscripts dating back to the 9th century AD, although some linguists believe the name predates these early written records and may have ancient Celtic roots stretching back to the Iron Age or earlier.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear this name was Caitlín Ní Fhallamhain, an Irish noblewoman who lived in the 11th century and is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, a renowned chronicle of medieval Irish history. Another early notable bearer of the name was Caitlín Ní Chon Ainglí, a 13th century Irish poet and member of a prominent literary family.
Throughout the Middle Ages and into the Early Modern period, the name Caitlín appeared in various Irish literary works, including the famous epic poem Caitlín Bhuí, which tells the tragic tale of a young woman named Caitlín whose lover is killed in battle. The name also appears in several Irish religious texts and hagiographies from this era, suggesting it was a popular name among devout Christian families as well.
As the name spread beyond Ireland in more recent centuries, several notable international figures bore variants of the name, such as Caitlyn Jenner (born 1949), an American television personality and former Olympic athlete; Caitlin Moran (born 1975), a British broadcaster and author; and Caitlin Rose (born 1987), an American singer-songwriter. Earlier examples include Caitlin Thomas (1913-1994), the wife of the renowned Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, and Caitlin Callaghan (1962-2018), a groundbreaking American singer and actress.
People
Caytlyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caytlyn 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
Caytlyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caytlyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 153 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caytlyn 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 2,240,224 US residents.
Is Caytlyn a common name?
We classify Caytlyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 157 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caytlyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Caytlyn was 1998, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caytlyn is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caytlyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 178 people with the name Caytlyn, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,266 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 Caytlyn 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 Caytlyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Caytlyn leans strongly female. 174 people counted with this name were female (98.3%), compared with 3 male bearers (1.7%). 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 Caytlyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caytlyn is White at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) 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 Caytlyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caytlyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.7% (140 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 Caytlyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caytlyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Caytlyn 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 Caytlyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caytlyn 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 Caytlyn 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 have Caytlyn as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.