How would you pronounce Caitlin?

Congratulations Holly

My DD is Caitlin, pronounced Kate-lyn.
My mother is irish and calls her 'Cutchlin'.
At a Dr's appointment a month ago, the Dr (N.Irish) read her name and called her Kathleen.

I guess she will choose what she prefers when she's older but we love the name and appreciate the various ways to say it

Kate-Lin I'd assume too .

Right behind you elliephant!!

Agree with rockbird, thats how my mum used to say it, she was from Mayo so maybe that hadsomething to do with it.
I always thought that the kate-lin thing was an anglo version because the pronuciation was difficult.

Trust me, with a name like Caitlin it isn't the pronunciation you need to worry about its the spelling. I've spent 35 years having to spell it everytime and most people still get it wrong :o

i have a niece called Caitlyn and we say Kate Lyn, but a lot of people seem to put a d on the end for some reason and pronounce Kate-lind?? Strange..lol

If it became fashionable to pronouce Yvonne as Why V On would that make it correct?

Kathleen is pronouced Cat leen and has been for centuries. Caitlin is pronounced Cat leen or Coit lin with the fada.

Katelyn -kate as in wait- is variation of this traditional irish name that became popular in the 1970's in America and Australia.

It is a perfectly nice name. It also has plently of spelling options to indicate how you want it said and avoid confusion - Caitlyn, Caitlynn, Caittlyn, Catelyn, Catlyn, Caytelyn, Caytlin, Kaetlynn, Kaitlin, Kaitlyn, Kaitlyne, Kaitlynn, Katelin, Katelyn, Katelynn, Kate Lynn, Katlin, Katlyn, Katlynne, Kaytelin, Kaytelinn, Kaytlynn, and Quatlin, although personally I think that last spelling is pushing it a bit . Just not Caitlin or Kathleen please for the traditionalists amongst us.

All the Kate lyns I know in Ireland are under 12. When I was growing up it was a name only heard on telly or on American cousins. The Irish Kates were Cat leens and Coit's.

Even Elvis got it right

Disclaimer- At the end of the day it is your choice what you call your baby and how you spell it and my opinion is right just that, opinion. So, to all the little Why V on's out there, stand tall, be proud and ignore those sniggering down the back.

The point is, you can't declare that a name is pronounced one way when it's clearly pronounced a myriad different ways, inside and outside of its country of origin.

Not entering into the argument (and I presume the OP has made a decision one way or the other now :o), but just wanted to say at alittlebitshy having met Caitlin Moran...

Well some of my family are from Galway which is a stone's throw from Connemara and they say Cotchleen. As do the ones from Mayo and Meath. It's my mother's name.

I do think if you're going to use a name from a particular country then you should make the effort to pronounce it correctly, otherwise you're using it purely because you like the spelling, in which case you might as well take some scrabble letters out of a bag and toss them in the air. Do a search for Siobhan on here and see how many times people have come across a See-o-ban. Is that acceptable? Or Seen for Sean because it's spelled the same as bean?

Arrogant , moi? Maybe we should take up deep breathing together Urbandaisy.

5 Dollar Shake - I'll blame all the wine I imbibed while watching the Eurovision for succumbing to bad grammer. Obviously this errant apostrophe has undermined my post and rendered it invalid.

Sticks tongue out and skips away humming

Take a deep breath, elliephant. People who live in different places pronounce words, and names, differently. I think you've lost the battle for Caitlin, and you sound fairly arrogant in telling people they're pronouncing their own or their children's names incorrectly. You clearly don't like it and I don't like a lot of variant pronunciations of different names from country to country but I certainly don't characterise them as mispronunciations.

Out of interest, do you take similar pains to pronounce names of French, Greek and German extraction according to the exact pronunciations of their origin?

To declare interests, I have none. I am not a Caitlin, have no plans to use the name, and don't know that many (and those I do use different pronunciations).

I know loads and they're all Kate-lynn, but I'm American. We pronounce it that way because "cait" rhymes with "wait" to us. :)

No need to speak for everybody.

I've already replied to this thread, but... my in-laws are from Connemara in the west of Ireland and they say they'd pronounce it Kate-lyn.

And by the way, in the context you've used it - it's ' its ' not ' it's '.

Actually to correct myself I would say Caw it lyn (like caught lyn) for Caitlin and Cat Leen for Kathleen. Just never Kate lyn , that's just wrong in every way

Ok I know this is an old thread but it's Cat leen not Kate Lyn - that's an american/australian mis pronounication that unfortunately has gained in popularity and must be stopped in it's tracks.

Here in Edinburgh Kate-lin but I do understand the other posters frustration of the pronunciation of gaelic names.

My dn is caitlin ( kate lyn) but in Ireland youmwould pronounce it cat-leen.

Kate-lin.

I would assume it was pronounced Kate-lyn, because that is how people tend to say it, but in my head I'd be thinking "Kathleen, Kathleen, Kathleen!!!".

My baby is called Caitlín and it does my head in that everyone assumes she is called 'katelyn'. She isn't!! It is pronounced catchleen and is the irish form of Kathleen. I live in the north of Ireland and people here have started the katelyn business as well. Make it stop!!!