Kathaleen
A feminine name of Irish origin meaning "pure".
Name Census estimates that about 2,144 living Americans carry the first name Kathaleen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kathaleen today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kathaleen births was 1952 (143 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kathaleen. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Kathaleen is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Kathaleens were born before 1971.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 159,867 Americans
Peak year
1952
143 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2008 SSA rank
#18,982
Tracked since 1902
Census
Kathaleen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,112 people with the first name Kathaleen, which placed it at #7,275 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
#7,275
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,112 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kathaleen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kathaleen is White at 84.2%. The next largest groups are Black (6.8%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Kathaleen 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 Kathaleen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.2% · 1,779
- Black or African American6.8% · 143
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 90
- Two or more races3.0% · 64
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 17
Popularity
Kathaleen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kathaleen from the 1900s through to the 2000s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 1,050 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
Kathaleen 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 Kathaleen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kathaleens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Kathaleen, while Oregon, Oklahoma, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 49 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kathaleen
Kathaleen is an anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Caitlín, which is a diminutive of the name Caitríona. The name Caitríona is derived from the ancient Irish words "cáid" meaning "pure" and "rí" meaning "great queen" or "mighty queen." The name Caitlín was a popular given name in Ireland from the Middle Ages onwards.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kathaleen dates back to the 16th century, when it appeared in various English and Irish texts. It was an English spelling variant used to represent the Irish Gaelic name Caitlín. The name gained popularity among English-speaking families in Ireland and later spread to other parts of the British Isles.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Kathaleen was Kathaleen O'Byrne, an Irish noblewoman who lived in the 16th century. She was a member of the powerful O'Byrne clan in County Wicklow, Ireland.
Another notable figure was Kathaleen Nugent, an Irish singer and harpist who lived in the late 18th century. She was renowned for her performances of traditional Irish music and is considered one of the earliest recorded Irish female harpists.
In the 19th century, Kathaleen Mavourneen was a popular Irish ballad that helped to popularize the name further. The song, written by Frederic Nicholls Crouch, tells the story of a young man's love for a woman named Kathaleen.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Kathaleen was Kathaleen Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII of England. She was born in 1512 and played a significant role in the English Reformation.
Another notable Kathaleen was Kathaleen Caird, a Scottish author and playwright born in 1888. She was known for her novels and plays that explored themes of Scottish culture and identity.
People
Kathaleen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kathaleen 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
Kathaleen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kathaleen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,144 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kathaleen 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 159,867 US residents.
Is Kathaleen a common name?
We classify Kathaleen as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,136 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kathaleen most popular?
The single biggest year for Kathaleen was 1952, when 143 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kathaleen is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kathaleen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,112 people with the name Kathaleen, or 0.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,275 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 Kathaleen 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 Kathaleen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kathaleen appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,113 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Kathaleen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kathaleen is White at 84.2%. The next largest groups are Black (6.8%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Kathaleen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kathaleen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.2% (1,779 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 Kathaleen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kathaleen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kathaleen 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 Kathaleen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kathaleen 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 Kathaleen 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 Kathaleen as a first name?
See how many people have the name Kathaleen on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.