[name]Read[/name] an interesting post about the name [name]Caitlin[/name] on an article about Irish names. It said that [name]Caitlin[/name] is pronouced more like [name]Kathleen[/name] by some Irish speakers.
An Irish person stated some Irish speakers say the [name]Cait[/name] part like Kath (long ‘A’) and the lin part as “leen”. So altogether it sounds more like [name]Kathleen[/name].
Cool huh!
emiliaj
The name [name]Kathleen[/name] is actually the anglicized form of [name]Caitlin[/name]. Most of the Kathleens from the past generations were of Irish descent. Essentially [name]Katherine[/name] came into the Irish language from the French as [name]Caitlin[/name]. English speakers hearing the Irish name [name]Caitlin[/name] developed the name [name]Kathleen[/name] to match English spelling to the Irish pronunciation.
Well I’m not Irish but for some reason I always thought that spelling looked like “cath-lyn” not “[name]Kate[/name]-lyn”, so it’s nice to hear that my instinct is almost right
Think it depends on which part of [name]Ireland[/name] you are from, but I’ve heard it more t/d than ‘th’ (there’s some posh linguistic word, bit like a glottal stop, to describe it), and the stress on the second syllable.
Traditionally pronounced in [name]Ireland[/name] as Cawt-lyn. However over the years it has transcended to [name]Kathleen[/name] and nowadays it’d be pronounced in [name]Ireland[/name] as [name]Katelynn[/name] too. I love it pronounced the traditionally Irish way more, personally.
I’ve heard it’s Cawt-leen and similar in [name]Ireland[/name]. In the US it became [name]Kate[/name]-lynn with a myriad of spellings. And yes, [name]Kathleen[/name] is the anglicized [name]Caitlin[/name]. These days on the popular name lists in [name]Ireland[/name], I see they are using [name]Katelyn[/name].
This! Several of my Irish friends tell me [name]Caitlin[/name] can be pronounced anywhere from COYT-leen to [name]CAT[/name]-leen, which eventually morphed into the English spelling, [name]Kathleen[/name]/[name]Cathleen[/name]. I happen to find [name]Caitlin[/name] (especially with its traditional Gaelic pronunciations!) so much more appealing than [name]Kathleen[/name]/[name]Cathleen[/name], personally!