Kathleen · Shortlist Together

Meaning

We don’t have a verified meaning for Kathleen.

We only publish meanings we can cite to a source you could check yourself. Most sites will give you one anyway; the ones you find elsewhere are often copied between sites without verification.

Its story

Popularity since 1915

Hover over or drag across the chart to see any year.

Per million boys born. Years with fewer than five births are not in the record, so the line breaks rather than dropping to zero.

See the 72 recorded years as a table

Kathleen, per million boys born. Years absent from the table had fewer than five births.
Year	Per million
1915	7
1916	9
1921	5
1923	9
1924	6
1925	10
1926	5
1927	8
1928	14
1929	19
1930	15
1931	13
1932	12
1933	15
1934	22
1935	13
1936	12
1937	14
1938	17
1939	16
1940	22
1941	24
1942	26
1943	23
1944	20
1945	26
1946	20
1947	26
1948	22
1949	32
1950	22
1951	18
1952	20
1953	18
1954	20
1955	16
1956	19
1957	17
1958	24
1959	22
1960	15
1961	13
1962	15
1963	14
1964	14
1965	18
1966	19
1967	18
1968	19
1969	13
1970	12
1971	10
1972	14
1973	12
1974	15
1975	12
1976	10
1977	10
1978	10
1979	5
1980	6
1981	8
1982	10
1983	11
1984	14
1985	12
1986	9
1987	11
1988	6
1989	13
1990	7
1991	2

Where it’s loved

Most popular in these states

Kathleen isn’t concentrated in any one state. Either it’s spread evenly, or no state reaches the 25 births over three years needed before a rate means anything.

More like it

More like Kathleen

The numbers

Every figure

Births in 1991: 5
Rank in 1991: #8,236
How rare: 1 in 404,065 boys
Since 1915: 1,691

Kathleen was last recorded in 1991. Fewer than five boys have been given the name in any year since, which is the point below which the record stops reporting.

Most popular in 1949, at 32 per million boys born.

There isn’t enough data for a ten-year trend: Kathleen doesn’t appear in both ends of that window.

Figures from the US Social Security Administration’s 2025 release. How these numbers are made.