I love the name Kathleen. My Granny was a Kathleen shortened to Kitty too and we are thinking about it as a middle name if we have a girl.

that name is just beyond sweet!!

May I name my next pet after your gorgeous dd hatrick?

Hey Binkle you can borrow our dd3 if you like, she is a 20 months old Kitty

now I want a baby dd JUST so I can call her Kitty

Kitty is gorgeous. MIL is called Kathleen.

Kathleen is lovely, Kitty is very cute too

Sorry dotsie - didn't mean to 'dis' your name choice! Glad your dd loves it - I think I've just got a hang up about it.

my dd, 10, is Kathleen, and refuses to answer to anything else! i think it's rather nice (not biased at all, honestly!!!!) it means "pure maiden" according to my baby name book. afaik, dd doesn't get any stick at school for it either. hth

I have a friend called Kathleen an she's not an old lady. She's nuts but special.

I'm Cathleen (with a C) and I have always hated it with a passion. It has always been dull and old fashioned, even when I was a child, which is a lot of years ago now. Not sure how a name can be an old lady name forever, but it manages it. Yhe only good thing about it is that it can be shortened to Kate!

or Caffeine

I think Kathleen is absolutely beautiful. A pure and true name. And unusual i think these days. (or you could always spell it Cafleine to modernise it hahah)

But what goes around comes around. LoW could be a trend-setter....

I think judging by the fact that just about everyone who has posted on here has a dGM called Kathleen you know which generation it is from.
Much prefer Mary sorry

always an irish mums name

My mum's name is Kathleen and I won't hear a word against it!

She also gets Kathy which she puts up with and 'Kaff' from my dad (very common Londoner). She ignores him mostly... But she only gets Kathleen when she goes home to Ireland.

NO. It's my mum's name. Awful horrible person that she is.

I LOVE the name Kathleen, DS would have been called it if he was a DD... my favourite aunt was called it, but known as Kiki. Irish version Caitlin is pretty popular, isn't it?

I like it. It is DDs middle name and grandmother's name.

My mum is Kathleen. Like you she hates Kathy. She does get called Kath, though, which she doesn't mind. I like Kathleen.

My friend Kathleen (after her granny) has always been called Katie by friends and family.

@ califru

I quite like the name Kathleen in a 70s retro sort of way. I also quite like the name Karen.

Kathleen is 56 and works in the shoe department of a private department store. She has cats. He husband is Ken and they laugh often about both starting with K

My grandmother was called Kathleen and she was one of the loveliest people I have ever known... I must admit I also love Cathy (very Wuthering Heights) but Kate and Lena and also very pretty names.

Sorry but I don't like it. Love Katie though. Kathleen is v. old fashioned to me.

my aunt is Kathleen and gets called Katty

I like Kitty as a nn for it too

Kathleen is nice, and you can always shorten to Kat/Kitty/Kate/Kay/Lena as suggested - definitely prefer any of those to Kathy.

Won't necessarily get shortened.

I know of a Tom, Thomas and Tommy all of whom have Thomas on their birth cert, and everyone calls them what there Mum calls them.
Guess it will depend on what she wants to call herself when she gets older.

Kathleen is lovely.

My SIL is Kathleen, but has always been called Katie.

I quite like it.

Which leads me onto the next name I like - Mary. I always forget these 2 are my middle names, but everyone else must think I am very self obsessed to call my daughters sort of after me!

Kathleen and Mary are my middle names... spooky!

It was Jean. My dad's mum was Mary, but I never met her as she died before I was born. I have both names as my middle names!

Ladyofwaffle - same here. One of my middle names is Kathleen after my grandmother (although she called herself Kay). I think it's a nice name but I get a bit irritated when people confuse it wilth Katherine - some people have even tried to tell me Kathleen is not a name

what was her middle name pc? my grNS IS MARY

It is one of my DD's middle names. It was my late mother's name and also my MIL's real name although she does not use it. My Mum hated it also and probably wouldn't be chuffed to know we used it!

TH

It was my lovely Nan's name, but she was always known by her middle name.
I think it is lovely, and thought of using it as a middle name if DS2 had been a girl.

It remimds me of an Enid Blyton character in one the boarding school books. Kathleen was plain and sour and had no friends.

So many grandmothers called Kathleen - are we cousins? I like Caitlin too... shall put it to DH

Its ok, i'd have it as a second name though.

its my grans name and my gran is the most wonderful woman in the whole word
so imo go for it

I prefer Katherine.

Kathleen is very sweet.
We were not at all keen on the Kath or Kathy shortening which is why we didn't call dd3 Katharine, we just gave her Kitty as a full name. We toyed with Katya though - resisted as dd1 and 2 have names ending in a so would have been overkill.

I wanted to call dd1 Katharine (with Kitty for short)

can't quite remember why we didn't

I like Kathleen... My mother inlaw is called Kathleen.
I think it's a lovely timeless name and will suit a little girl aswell as a woman of any age

I am not to keen on nicknames anyway...but, people have such a tendency to shorten any name....so, are there any short versions that you like more, if so, then, nip the whole Kathy/Cathy thing in the butt by using the short version you like....

Message withdrawn

It's a lovely name - maybe some will say it's a little old fashioned now (I prefer "traditional" )but at least it won't be the same as everyone else!

Could you go for Kate as short name?

Oooh, that's alot of variations, thankyou! I love the meanings, I hadn't ever looked it up. Even though it was my grandmothers name I don't see it as an old lady name (somehow my Grandmother was ageless!) which is a good thing, because I know what you mean - I guess how I would see Agnes or Ethel etc.

My granny was called Kathleen.
It's a nice name but will get shortened no doubt.

Kathleen girl Save Save Name email E-mail print Print

First name origins & meanings:

1. Greek: Pure
2. Celtic: Little darling

First name variations: Cait, Caitey, Caitie, Caitlin, Caitlinn, Caitrin, Caitrine, Caitrinn, Caitriona, Caitrionagh, Caity, Cat, Cataleen, Catarina, Catarine, Cate, Cateline, Caterina, Catey, Catha, Cathaleen, Cathaline, Catharin, Cathatina, Catharine, Cathatyna, Catharyne, Cathe, Cathee, Cathelin, Cathelina, Cathelle, Catherin, Catherina, Catherinn, Catheryn, Cathi, Cathie, Cathirin, Cathiryn, Cathleen, Cathlene, Cathline, Cathlyne, Cathrine, Cathrinn, Cathryn, Cathrynn, Cathy, Cathye, Cathyleen, Catlina, Catlaina, Catriona, Catrionagh, Catryna, Cay, Caye, Cazzy, Ekaterina, Kait, Kaitey, Kaitie, Kaitlin, Kaitlinne, Kaitrin, Kaitrine, Kaitrinna, Kaitriona, Kaitrionaugh, Kasienka, Kasja, Kaska, Katarina, Katchen, Kate, Katee, Katell, Katelle, Katenka, Katerina, Katerinka, Katey, Katinka, Katha, Katharine, Katharyn, Katharyne, Kathee, Kathelina, Katheline, Katherin, Katherina, Katherine, Katheryn, Katherynn, Kathi, Kathie, Kathileen, Kathiryn, Kathlene, Kathleyn, Kathline, Kathyleen, Kathrine, Kathrinna, Kathryn, Kathryne, Kathy, Kathyrine, Katica, Katie, Katina, Katka, Katla, Katlaina, Katleen, Katoushka, Katrena, Katrine, Katrina, Katriona, Katrionaugh, Katryna, Katushka, Katy, Katya, Kittee, Kittie, Kitty, Trina, Trine, Trinette, Yekaterin, Yekaterina, Catherine, Cathaleen, Cathaline, Cathaline, Cathleen, Kathaleen, Kathaleya, Kathaleyna, Kathaline, Kathelina, Katheline, Kathlene, Kathlin, Kathline, Kathlynn, Kathlyn, Kathie

I think its a bit 'old ladyish' as alot of my grans generations had Kathleens, her sister, friend ect ... was called that.

But there are lots of variations of Kathleen which are a bit more modern but can still be in connection with your grandmother.

I rather like it - you certainly don't hear it much atm

Lena is pretty if you want an abbreviation

Just thinking of names - Kathleen is my middle name and my grandmothers name, I love it but I hate Cathy/Kathy. What do you all think? It's ok, be honest.