My sister's name is
Caroline pronounced caro-LINE and she hates, hates, hates when people call her caro-LYN. And she gets that quite a bit. To her (and me) are different names and I like
Caroline so much more than
Carolyn.
As for Kathryn/Katherine I don't really differentiate between the two. I suppose
Katherine and the likes ought to be pronounced with a middle syllable, but I think it's so soft that it usually falls out and becomes KATH-rin.
My name is
Catherine and most people just pronounce it with 2 syllables. I pronounce it with a slight middle syllable.