The Interesting Thing About Caitlyn Jenner's New Name

The woman formerly known as Bruce Jenner debuted her new look and new name (Caitlyn) on the cover of Vanity Fair Monday. Pamela Satran of Nameberry tells Yahoo Parenting why Caitlyn’s moniker makes a clear message regarding her ex-wife Kris Jenner. (Photo: Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair)

Little more than a month after announcing that she was transitioning into a woman in an intimate interview with Diane Sawyer, the woman formerly known as Bruce Jenner revealed her new look on Monday on the July cover of Vanity Fair with the cover line, “Call me Caitlyn.”

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The photo, shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz at Jenner’s Malibu home, reveals the 65-year-old’s stunning transformation complete with a strapless, white leotard, and long, tousled hair. “I’m so happy after such a long struggle to be living my true self,” writes Jenner, sharing the cover in one of the first two tweets from her new Twitter account, which promptly pulled in more than half a million followers in just a few hours. “Can’t wait for you to get to know her/me.”

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Photo: Msrachelicious via Instagram

To say that the magazine cover photo she posted was well received is as understated as the muted makeup she models in the image. In less than half a day, nearly 100,000 followers had marked it a favorite. Getting attention isn’t her goal though. “This shoot was about my life and who I am as a person,” Jenner told Vanity Fair. “It’s not about the fanfare.”

Jenner posed with the Kardashian clan and Ryan Seacrest in 2007. (Photo: Jeff Vespa/WireImage). 

Nevertheless much fanfare is being made over Jenner’s choice of name, a moniker most typically spelled with a “K.” Ever since the Kardashian clan became a reality TV dynasty, the “K” names have become an extension of their family brand, from whom Jenner formally split following his September divorce from matriarch Kris Jenner. No fewer than six of the family members have names beginning with the letter: Kris, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall, and Kylie.

“The most popular version of Caitlyn’s name is spelled Kaitlyn,” Pamela Satran of Nameberry, tells Yahoo Parenting. “So you do have to believe that by spelling the name with a ‘C,’ when the most common version is with a ‘K’ signals, ‘Hey I’m not a Kardashian and I’m not married to Kris anymore and I’m not doing things Kris’s way.’”

Photo: Zac_Posen via Instagram

Caitlyn, an Irish variation of Katherine, meaning “pure,” is barely in the Social Security Administration’s Top 500 Names with a rank of 496. “It’s not really a fashionable name,” adds Satran of the moniker. “And for somebody who’s lived in such close proximity to the style-conscious Kardashians for so long, she’s not going to pick a name out of style unless it’s something she’s held close to her heart for some time.”

For that reason, Satran theorizes that Jenner has perhaps thought of herself as Caitlyn for quite some time. “If somebody was just starting to think of herself as female right now they probably wouldn’t pick the name Caitlyn because it’s so dated,” the name guru explains. “This was most likely a name she heard and liked in ’80s and ’90s.”

Names after all are something the members of Jenner’s family think of as statements, considering their recent choices of North for Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s daughter and Reign for Kourtney Kardashian’s new son with Scott Disick. “I don’t think she consulted with her stepdaughters on her name choice,” says Satran of Jenner, who had facial-feminization surgery in March but has not undergone genital surgery. “Kim and Kourtney probably wouldn’t have picked Caitlyn.”

Perhaps most telling about her new title, though, is that unlike the “K” names Jenner gave his daughters with Kris, Caitlyn is not unisex like Kendall, nor a variation of a boy’s name, like Kylie (stemming from Kyle). “This name is distinctly feminine,” reveals Satran. “It says, ‘I’m not somebody in between.’ It’s another way of spelling out the message that with this name, ‘I’m really a woman.’”

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