View Message

caitlin
the name Caitlin is pronounced "Cawtleen" and the English or American version is Kathleen NOT Kaytlin. This is a common mistake made by people who do not speak the Irish language. The fact that Caitlin looks like it should be pronounced phonetically as Kaytlin does not make it correct. I'm 40 years old and I'm fed up trying to stop people calling me Kaytlin.
vote up1vote down

Replies

There is another fada on the a too Cáitlín. á is aw and í is ee. Unfortunately here (ireland) people have taken to the english pronounciation with the Irish spelling!! shudder! Kate-lyn has also become popular.
Fly the flag and think of it positively, they'll remember you! My sister's name is Labhaoise (Lee-sha) and while she has half a chance here she lives in London!!
vote up1vote down
Check Caitlín in the databaseThere they give the Irish pronunciaton as "KAHT-leen" which I assume is the same as "Cawtleen".The fact is that there are more ignorant Americans etc than knowing Irish, therefore Caitlin outside Ireland will continue to be pronounced as Katelyn. The majority rules."But it’s all right now.
I learned my lesson well.
You see you can’t please everyone
So you got to please yourself."
Rick Nelson, GardenParty"It does not become me to make myself smaller than I am." (Edith Södergran 1891-1923)

This message was edited 6/17/2006, 5:59 AM

vote up1vote down
Whoa, wait a minute...blaming this on the "ignorant Americans" isn't entirely fair. You can blame it on English speakers I suppose, because the accent varies from the Irish accent so Irish words and names will of course sound different when pronounced in English, but America wasn't the first country to speak English.
vote up1vote down