Girls' name · peaked in 1949
Kathleen name popularity since 1925
674,993 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Kathleen. Half of them were born in 1955 or earlier, so the typical Kathleen is about 71 years old in 2026. Kathleen peaked in 1949 as the #9 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 674,993
- Named Kathleen, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,156 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.8% girls
- 673,338 girls · 1,655 boys
- Most popular in
- Massachusetts
- 2.35× its national share
Peak year is the year Kathleen made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Kathleen births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year by count was 1951. Measured as a share of all babies, Kathleen peaked in 1949.
- Fastest rise: Between 1939 and 1944, Kathleen became 2.3× more common, from 1 in 236 baby girls to 1 in 102.
- Steepest fall: Between 2004 and 2009, its share of baby girls fell by 46%, from 1 in 1,830 to 1 in 3,390.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Kathleen's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Kathleen.
Decade by decade
Babies named Kathleen in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 16,137 | 60 | – |
| 1930s | 34,550 | 158 | #71 |
| 1940s | 152,981 | 362 | #19 |
| 1950s | 224,342 | 394 | #17 |
| 1960s | 120,952 | 300 | #34 |
| 1970s | 44,847 | 178 | #80 |
| 1980s | 39,394 | 184 | #68 |
| 1990s | 24,846 | 19 | #139 |
| 2000s | 10,065 | 0 | #339 |
| 2010s | 3,809 | 0 | #824 |
| 2020–25 | 1,415 | 0 | #1,156 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
57.5% of babies named Kathleen from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Kathleen is most popular
The index compares Kathleen's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Kathleen.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | 2.35× | 37,941 |
| Rhode Island | 2.18× | 5,251 |
| Wisconsin | 1.95× | 26,090 |
| New Jersey | 1.88× | 35,125 |
| Connecticut | 1.87× | 13,799 |
Other spellings
Spellings that sound like Kathleen and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.
| Spelling | Girls | Peak year |
|---|---|---|
| Kathleen (this page) | 673,338 | 1949 |
| Cathleen | 29,119 | 1958 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Kathleen's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Kathleen.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Kathleen (1949).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data