Kathlene
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "pure, chaste".
Name Census estimates that about 2,440 living Americans carry the first name Kathlene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kathlene today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kathlene births was 1950 (120 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kathlene. 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
2.4K
~ 1 in 140,473 Americans
Peak year
1950
120 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2014 SSA rank
#12,493
Tracked since 1913
Census
Kathlene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,879 people with the first name Kathlene, which placed it at #5,781 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
#5,781
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,879 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kathlene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kathlene is White at 83.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and Black (4.4%). 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 Kathlene 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 Kathlene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.8% · 2,412
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 130
- Black or African American4.4% · 127
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 102
- Two or more races3.0% · 86
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 22
Popularity
Kathlene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kathlene from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 876 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kathlene 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 Kathlene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kathlenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. California, Michigan, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kathlene, while Missouri, Minnesota, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 53 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kathlene
The name Kathlene is a feminine given name derived from the Greek name Katherine, which itself is derived from the Greek word "katharos," meaning "pure" or "clear." The name Katherine was popularized during the Middle Ages, particularly after the establishment of the St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in the 6th century.
The variant spelling "Kathlene" is believed to have originated in Ireland during the 19th century, possibly as a result of the anglicization of the Irish name Caitlín, which is the Irish form of the name Catherine. This spelling was likely adopted to make the name more easily pronounceable for English speakers.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Kathlene can be found in the 1891 Irish census, where a small number of individuals were recorded with this spelling. However, the name did not gain widespread popularity until the 20th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kathlene. One of the earliest was Kathlene MacKay (1824-1898), a Scottish author and poet who wrote under the pen name "Norah Holland." Another was Kathlene Vermillion (1885-1960), an American actress and vaudeville performer known for her role in the 1919 film "Yankee Doodle in Berlin."
Kathlene Mallory (1901-1977) was an American tennis player who won eight Grand Slam singles titles between 1926 and 1927. Kathlene Holm (1918-2003) was a Norwegian-American actress and singer best known for her role in the 1948 film "The Naked City."
More recently, Kathlene Fox (born 1955) is an American political scientist and author who has written extensively on issues related to gender and politics. She is currently a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder.
While the name Kathlene has never been among the most popular baby names, it has maintained a consistent presence throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly in Ireland, the United States, and other English-speaking countries.
People
Kathlene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kathlene as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kathlene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kathlene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,440 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kathlene 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 140,473 US residents.
Is Kathlene a common name?
We classify Kathlene as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,500 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kathlene most popular?
The single biggest year for Kathlene was 1950, when 120 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kathlene is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kathlene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,879 people with the name Kathlene, or 0.95 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,781 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 Kathlene 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 Kathlene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kathlene appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,877 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Kathlene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kathlene is White at 83.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and Black (4.4%). 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 Kathlene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kathlene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.8% (2,412 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 Kathlene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kathlene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kathlene 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 Kathlene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kathlene 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 Kathlene 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 the name Kathlene?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.