Caitlin

[specialknickers]

What springs to mind when you hear the name Caitlin? I always think of Caitlin Thomas (wife of Dylan, bit of a firebrand) and a freind of mine from school who was v v posh, but mentioned I was think of using it for dc1 and a friend (a teacher, with teenage kids, and definitely not a snob) pulled a cats bum face and said it was a bit chavish.

Not to start a debate about the use of the word "chav", which I don't approve of personally, would like to find out what people think. I live in a bit of a middle class bubble where all little girls seem to get called things like Esme and Audrey so I'm totally out of touch! (For reference, I deliberately picked quite a classless name for dc1 and would like to do the same for this baby too).

Not related to chaviness, but the way the name is usually pronounced makes me wince. People who would judge the hell out of someone who pronounced Siobhan as 'see-o-ban' think it's okay to pronounce Caitlin as 'kate-lin'.

Otherwise, I get a little bit bothered by how many Irish names are 'chavvy' according to Mumsnet. Conor, Liam etc. Your friend's attitude may be related to that.

Not a huge fan of the term "chavvy", but I can see where your friend is coming from. A lot of Irish names have been adopted by the lower social classes in recent years. I've not heard of many Caitlins - with the original Irish spelling - but there have been a whole bunch of Katelyn/Katelynn/Kaitlyn type names springing up and it fits in with that whole "K" them: Kayleigh, Kylie, Karly etc.

Whilst I do realise it also starts with a "k", I much prefer the anglicised form Kathleen, which is a better fit with your "classless" theme, or the Scottish form Catriona (pronounced Katrina, btw).

The one I know is at grammar school and neither posh, Irish or cavy.
She's a perfectly lovely Caitlin who was born in Wales.

As long as you are pronouncing it Cat-leen and not Kate-lin then it's lovely.

Even Cat-leen isn't strictly the correct pronunciation, is it?

How would you pronounce it then midnight? That's how my Irish family would say it and it's an Irish name.

Isn't it more like Cotch-leen, first syllable quite soft sounding? Maybe it's a regional pronunciation.

guilty as charged. I have a Caitlin. (pronounced the way everyone in Scotland seems to- Kate-Lin) even though I know it is Cat'leen (or Kathleen) and despite the fact that I get peeved with people who cannot pronounce Siobhan, Catriona or Mairi (and then there is the whole Mhairi thing!)

she gets called Katie anyway...

In Scotland it is a very common name these days (not chavvy just popular) and always pronounced 'wrong' and often mispelt too.

Ah yes, pronouncing it... Well I'm welsh, I pronounce it cat-Lin but dh is Irish, and the baby will be too. Although born in England... To complicate things further, we have a very Scottish sounding surname to contend with. Gah.

Still like the name though!

I've never met an Irish Cáitlín, far more common in Ireland for people to be called Kathleen. I wouldn't expect an English person to pronounce it cawtch-leen either, I'd only expect that from an Irish speaking Irish person.

I always assume UK Caitlins are pronounced Cat-lin, Kate-lin.

I too get irked with the Irish names = trouble child.

I think it's a nice name if spelt correctly.

In England it would only cause you problems to pronounce it the Irish way, though. I've only ever heard Kate-lin and I think that is the accepted pronunciation. I don't think it's the same thing as calling your child Sigh-o-ban.

I think it's lovely. I'm on an ipad which keeps correcting my spelling quite unhelpfully - meant of course that I would pronounce it Kate-Lin, although I quite like the cat-Lin thing that ms Moran has pioneered too.

Y y to the demonisation of perfectly good Irish names, squoosh. Tis actually a bit racist if you ask me.

I think of my daughter!

& we spell it with a C and pronounce it 'Kate-Lin'