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The first name 
Kathleen

Kathleen is a female first name. In very rare cases it is also used for boys.

Kathleen is a common name for girls!

The name Kathleen isn’t among the current fashionable names in our top 10 stats, but nonetheless, it’s still very popular and common. In our SmartGenius ranking of all girls names, Kathleen ranks 767. Recently, out of every 10,000 newborn girls, approximately 2 were named Kathleen. In total, there are currently 700,540 people – children, adults and seniors – named Kathleen living in the United States, which is approximately 0.21 % of the entire population.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Kathleen

What does the name 
Kathleen mean?

The name Kathleen is the English form of Irish Caitlin, which itself goes back to the Greek name Aikaterine. Its origin is unclear, it could for example derive from the Greek word ‘hekateros’ and would mean ‘each of the two’, or from ‘katharos’ meaning ‘pure’.

Although Kathleen is... the English form of an Irish name, it was also one of the most popular given names in Ireland in the early 20th century.

Kathleen -
a popular girl in the U.S. for 140 years

The name Kathleen belongs to the USA like the Constitution, baseball and the White House. Why? Well, quite simply, Kathleen is one of only 432 girls names that have been given in the USA in every single year since the beginning of the official name statistics and thus since 1880. However, of course, the name was not equally widespread in all 143 years – the most popular it was far back in the last century: In 1949 Kathleen was one of the top 10 most popular baby girl names in the entire United States - ranking #9 on our SmartGenius baby name charts.

In years where the graph has no value, the name Kathleen was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

On position 985 in our SmartGenius name stats for 2022, we proudly present... the girls' name Kathleen!

In 1949, when the name Kathleen was at the height of its popularity, 26,413 newborns were named Kathleen by their parents - in 2022, by contrast, the name was given only 227 times and Kathleen occupied place 985 in our ranking of the most popular girls names.

Kathleen -
a top 10 name in New Jersey, at home in the entire USA

Regardless of where you live in the US, chances are you know someone called Kathleen. Because: There are women and girls named Kathleen in every state in the USA. If this does not sound particularly spectacular to you, you should know that of the more than 50,000 different female first names that occur in the USA, just 537 are recorded in each individual state, so the name Kathleen is definitely something very special. In some regions it even makes it into the top 10 of the most popular female first names, for example in New Jersey, where Kathleen ranks on place 9, making it one of the most common female first names in the entire state. The greatest chance of meeting Kathleen, however, is in Massachusetts, where one in 97 girls and women bears this beautiful name – that is far above average – in the entire USA it is only one in 220, women and girls and in Mississippi, where the name is least represented in relation to the population, you even have to ask an average of 809 women and girls for their name before you once get Kathleen as an answer.

Kathleen has 8 letters 
and begins with a K

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter K is a real popular first letter for girls' names. That’s because 7.5% of all common girls’ names in the US begin with this letter. Only the first letters A, S and M are more common for girls' names.

With eight letters, the name Kathleen is long compared to other names. In fact, 14.5% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly eight letters. 78% of all first names are shorter, while only 8% of all boys’ and girls’ names use nine letters or even more. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long with no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

That means that if 7.5% of all girls' names start with a K, this initial letter occurs more than twice as often as all 26 letters on average. Interesting detail: of all the girls' names that begin with a K, Karen is the most common.

Other names with 
K, a, t, h, l, e, e and n

If you take all the letters in the name Kathleen – K, a, t, h, l, e, e and n – and put them together again, you can form another name, such as Kathlene.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Kathleen

If your name is Kathleen and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Kathleen

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Kathleen, you can simply say:

Koala

Apple

Tiger

Hat

Lion

Elephant

Elephant

Nut

This is how the name Kathleen is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Kathleen in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Kathleen

Kathleen

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Kathleen

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Kathleen is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

K
A
T
H
L
E
E
N

Have you ever waved the name Kathleen

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

K
A
T
H
L
E
E
N

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Kathleen sounds like this: