‘Caitlyn’ drops in popularity as baby name since Jenner came out

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

Different versions of the name Caitlyn have dipped in popularity since Olympian Caitlyn Jenner came out as trans a year ago.

In the year following Jenner’s announcement that she had transitioned to female, four versions of her name dropped in popularity.

According to data from the Social Security Administration, ‘Caitlyn’, ‘Caitlin’, ‘Katelynn’ and ‘Kaitlynn’ all dropped in popularity due to the name now being “controversial”.

Caitlyn Jenner

The founder of BabynameWizard.com, Laura Wattenberg, said: “It was inevitable.

“Caitlyn was already falling in popularity. Now it is suddenly controversial.”

The body released the most popular 1,000 baby names from 2016.

The top name for the third year in a row was Emma, followed by Olivia, Ava, Sophia and Isabella.

Earlier this week the Olympian-turned-reality star Jenner said she was pursuing political office in order to challenge Trump on trans issues.

Last month, Jenner spoke about considering suicide before she came out as trans.

It was for reasons like this, she said, that she would not be encouraging anyone to transition before they were absolutely prepared for the consequences.

Advertisement Remove ads


“I don’t want to be responsible for people going through this.

“Because when you transition it’s not just you. It’s your entire family, it’s every loved one you have. It is a huge, major, major decision in your life.”

Earlier this week, Jenner said it was “hard” to give up on life as Bruce, and that her pre-transition persona “still lives inside”.

Advertisement Remove ads

She told The Guardian newspaper: “I had a life for 65 years. OK?

“I liked Bruce. He was a good person. He did a lot in his life. Oh, ‘he didn’t even exist’.

“Yes he did exist! He worked his butt off. He won the [Olympic] Games. He raised amazing kids.

“He did a lot of very, very good things and it’s not like I just want to throw that away.”

Comments (0)

MyPinkNews members are invited to comment on articles to discuss the content we publish, or debate issues more generally. Please familiarise yourself with our community guidelines to ensure that our community remains a safe and inclusive space for all.

Loading Comments