Caitlin vs Emily.

[anapology.livejournal.com]

Okay, i am super bored & ill today so forgive me for this pointless post.. though it is rather interesting i suppose...

The name Caitlin seems to have a bad vibe in this community, but i personally really love it.
I always see comments like "The world doesnt need another Kaitlyn/Caitlyn/Katelin" Now... i never really took it seriously that it was so overused, as I don't hear it very often but looking through the latest 1005 names for 2005 i realised how many different spellings there are, it's rather ridiculous!!

Emily has been number 1 since 1996, so i decided to pit all varients of Caitlin (im sticking with the original spelling, and best as far as im concerned!) against Emily. The numbers in bold are the number of births in 2005 with that name.
(Ranking)
Kaitlyn- 34 6,423
Katelyn- 58 4,856
Caitlyn- 181 1,871
Caitlin- 193 1,752
Katelynn- 296 1,090
Kaitlin- 317 993
Kaitlynn- 470 639
Katlyn- 614 452
Katelin- 979 246
=18,323

Emily- 1 23,544
Emilie- 616 938
Emilee- 334 616
Emmalee- 638 429
=25,527
Okay, so if the spellings are grouped together obviously Emily is still number 1, but really not by much at all...Caitlin comes in at number 4, above Abigail and below Madison. there are only 5,221 more Emily's in the united states than Caitlin's. Which is weird considering the first spelling "Kaitlyn" is as low as 34.


So really... Caitlin & friends is the 4th most popular name, and not by much either!
I still like it, but definetly wouldnt use it.

(it's been pointed out that there are loads of names like caitlin/kaylin that run in similar vein so even with taking out kaylin (which was somewhat of an afterthought anyway)...
The top 5 stands:

Emily- 23,544
Madison- 20,723
Emma- 19,976
Caitlin-18,323
Abigail-16,754

Comments

[babyhoyt.livejournal.com]

but, in the same vein... don't you want to combine the Emily and Emma stats, too? They are just as close as caitlin and Kaylyn.

[anapology.livejournal.com]

They really arent as similar...

They are pretty similar, but you can easily hear the difference...
I just wanted to point out that 34 vs 4 is a really big difference when grouping the many many names! the Kaylin bit was more of an after thought.

[babyhoyt.livejournal.com]

how popular are all the katharine's? I wonder if there will be way more Kat names running around than Em names. I hope so. Since we are going with Emma, regardless of its damn high stats. Even though I don't want my name (katharine) being too too popular!

I am in a lose-lose situation, aren't I?

[anapology.livejournal.com]

lol yes a bit of a lose-lose situation!

Emma is a great name, regardless of it's popularity.. it's just that obviously a lot of people agree that it's a great name!!

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

You might as well go the whole hog and throw them in with the Katherines (http://www.namenerds.com/irish/Katelyn.html) though, if you think Kaylyn is similar enough to count.

[anapology.livejournal.com]

Someone shouts Katherine & i hear Katherine.. shout Kaylin & you couldnt distiguish unless you were listening carefully! Anyway, it only drops two without the Kaylin's.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

I can hear a difference between Maggie and Margaret but it doesn't mean they're not the same name! Kaylin is almost certainly a variation of Colleen (http://www.babynamesofireland.com/pages/media.html) (ugh), rather than Caitlin. (Read that page for some candid opinions on the trend of using Irish names outside Ireland!)

[darabelle.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't go so far as to say that Caitlin (and the variant spellings thereof) and Kaylin (and the variant spellings thereof) are "basically the same name." If one of those were my name, I think I might be offended by that. It would be like if you said that my name (Dara) and the name Tara or Daria were "basically the same name" just because they sound really similar and if someone shouts one of them, it could be heard as the other.

Anyway, there are way too many numbers in this post for me to seriously read through the whole thing and follow it without getting bored and confused halfway through. =\

[anapology.livejournal.com]

Tara and Daria are different. Dara, Tara, Cara, Lara...etc are rather similar... they rhyme, how could you be offened by that? That's like me being offended by someone saying Sophy & Sophia are basically the same...(they are!). Kaitlyn & Kaylyn are as similar as two different names can possibly be. I just did all that to try and keep myself occupied, it's nothing for anyone to get stressed about!

[darabelle.livejournal.com]

LOL I'm not getting stressed.

I wasn't saying that Tara and Daria are similar... I was saying that it was like saying Dara and Tara are similar OR Dara and Daria are similar.

Maybe I'm just bitter after all the years of having my name mispronounced.

[anapology.livejournal.com]

heh, & i'm bitter about having my name mispelt. I guess that's why spellings of names interest me (infuriate me more like!)

[mrsduryee.livejournal.com]

Still trying to pronounce your name correctly Dara. Are you SURE is A like Apple? LOL. *west coast grin*

[ang3l-dr3ams.livejournal.com]

wanted to name my twins... Emily and Madison and i got alot of people on here saying that they hate those names or that they are over use or that i shoundn't have another "M" name cause my daughters name is Makayla.... it really tore me up and confused me for the longest time cause i was lost and couldn't think of anything else.. my hubby hates the name emily but i love it an now im still a lil lost.... I come to realize that it doesn't matter what people think cause this is your child and if you truly like a name then ue it :)

[anapology.livejournal.com]

You should definetly choose a name you love, this community should be for getting ideas for names.. people give opinuons but you dont have to listen to them... it's not like you jknow any of us in real life.
If you are a sensitive kind of person it's probably best to keep the name choosing between you & your partner...not giving out the names until the girls are born, that was you can save yourself any upset over negative comments.

[trissyd.livejournal.com]

I had a good friend named Caitlin, so I've always had good feelings about the name...
It's too common for my liking, but I'd use it a million times over before Emily :).

[tallc00lone.livejournal.com]

That is my very favourite name in the world, but spelled Caitlyn. If it weren't so popular, it would totally be my future-child's name.

[scottish-diva.livejournal.com]

I love Emily, but prefer is spelt Amalie, it kinda gives it a different twist but i don't go for the whole Kaitlyn thing, but i do love Kaelyn and stuff, just not 'Kate'.

[anapology.livejournal.com]

You mean Amélie?
It's French, and is derived from Amelia, not Emily.
Amalie, i've never heard of that... it's not a very recognised name i dont think.

[solyma.livejournal.com]

i really like that name too, although i prefer the spelling katelyn. i want to name one of my future children after my friend katie (her full name is kathryn), but i don't love kathryn, so i'm thinking of using katelyn. the popularity thing is definitely a turn off, but i'm also not having kids any time soon so maybe the trend will die down. i dunno. we'll see. but yeah, i really do like that name...

[krosp.livejournal.com]

155 ways to spell Caitlin: http://www.namenerds.com/irish/Katelyn.html

[anapology.livejournal.com]

Crazy!!! i'll bet there are a couple of Keightlinne/Kaetlyn/Caytelynn's running around somewhere... what with the obsession of creating unique names...

[lostrocket.livejournal.com]

I just think it's sad that the first three "Caitlin" listings are for cracked-out "tailored" spellings.

[arbus.livejournal.com]

i really like the name caitlin, but dont know that i would ever use it, unfortunately. my mother wanted to name me katelyn but my father wouldnt have it because he wanted another C name, and caitlin wasnt really an option in 1971. my mother passed away two years ago and she always loved the name kate, so i kind of want to name my first daughter kate or some variation. my aunts name is kathleen, a name i love, but i dont really want to name my kid after her. im still trying to come up with a good solution.

cant stand the name emily. bad association for me...

[mrsduryee.livejournal.com]

I absolutely ADORE the name Katelynn, and I want to use it. It bums me out that it's so popular, but I love the way it sounds--so girly and sophisticated at the same time. I like it spelled Caitlin, but I really like Ks and Ys. I like the 2 ns because it looks like 2 names put together. Katelyn looks like cat-a-line to me. LOL.

I'm hoping I change my mind in 5 years so that the name we pick isn't super popular. My other favorite girl name is Lenora, which isn't that popular.