How Many People Are Named Kathleen?
people named Kathleen are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 671 people in the US has this name
Based on 715,336 babies named Kathleen in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
⭐⭐ Common
Peak Year
26,749 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
Anglicized form of CAITLÍN.
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
Same Sound, Other Spellings
These names are pronounced like Kathleen in English. Counting Kathleen and these spellings together, about 533,056 people alive in the US have the name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Almost all of the babies given the name Kathleen (99.8%) were girls.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Kathleen alive today is about 63 years old, and 70% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 56 and 74 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Kathleen first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1951, to 26,749 babies. In 2025, 201 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Kathleen reached #9 among girls' names in 1949, and was in the top 10 for 4 years, 1948 to 1951. In 2025 it ranked #1,156.
| Girls | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #1,156 |
| Best rank | #9 (1949) |
| Years in the top 10 | 4 |
| Years in the top 100 | 72 (1918 to 1990) |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #15 in the 1950s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Kathleen alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Kathleen were born in New York than in any other state: about 66,055 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Kathleen was given 2 times as often in Massachusetts, 1.8 times in New Jersey and 1.8 times in Rhode Island.
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