Kahlea
A feminine name believed to be a variation of the Arabic name Kehlah, meaning "glory".
Name Census estimates that about 304 living Americans carry the first name Kahlea. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kahlea today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kahlea births was 2010 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kahlea. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
304
~ 1 in 1,127,481 Americans
Peak year
2010
17 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,140
Tracked since 1983
Census
Kahlea in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 247 people with the first name Kahlea, which placed it at #33,475 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#33,475
National first-name rank
People counted
247
247 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
28.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kahlea
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kahlea is Black at 28.7%. The next largest groups are White (27.9%) and Two or More Races (20.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Kahlea described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Kahlea at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American28.7% · 71
- White27.9% · 69
- Two or more races20.6% · 51
- Hispanic or Latino16.2% · 40
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 3
Popularity
Kahlea: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kahlea from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 124 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kahlea remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kahlea by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Kahlea during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kahlea
The name Kahlea has its origins in the Hawaiian language and culture. It is derived from the Hawaiian words "ka" meaning "the" and "hale" meaning "house" or "home." Together, Kahlea can be interpreted to mean "the home" or "the dwelling place."
The name Kahlea is believed to have been in use among the native Hawaiian people for centuries, even before the arrival of European explorers and settlers in the Hawaiian Islands. It was a name often given to children, particularly girls, to symbolize the importance of family and the sense of belonging to a place.
In ancient Hawaiian traditions, the home was considered a sacred space, and the name Kahlea may have been used to honor this cultural significance. It is possible that the name was mentioned in traditional Hawaiian chants or oral histories, but written records from that era are limited.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kahlea can be found in the Hawaiian language newspapers of the late 19th century. For example, a woman named Kahlea Kahoiwai was mentioned in the newspaper "Ka Nupepa Kuokoa" in 1873.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Kahlea. One of the most prominent was Kahlea Kealoha (1895-1972), a Hawaiian singer and composer who was known for preserving and promoting traditional Hawaiian music.
Another notable Kahlea was Kahlea Kalaimoku (1920-2005), a Hawaiian educator and advocate for the revitalization of the Hawaiian language and culture. She played a crucial role in establishing Hawaiian language immersion programs in schools across the islands.
In the realm of sports, Kahlea Kooheiki (born 1985) is a professional volleyball player from Hawaii who has represented the United States in international competitions.
Kahlea Kalawaia (1842-1891) was a Hawaiian woman who dedicated her life to caring for those afflicted with Hansen's disease (leprosy) on the island of Molokai.
Lastly, Kahlea Nihipali (1932-2018) was a renowned Hawaiian artist and sculptor, known for her intricate woodcarvings and sculptures depicting traditional Hawaiian motifs and stories.
People
Kahlea + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kahlea as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kahlea: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kahlea?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 304 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kahlea going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,127,481 US residents.
Is Kahlea a common name?
We classify Kahlea as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 308 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kahlea most popular?
The single biggest year for Kahlea was 2010, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kahlea is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kahlea in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 247 people with the name Kahlea, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,475 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Kahlea in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Kahlea?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kahlea appears almost entirely female. Of the 251 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Kahlea?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kahlea is Black at 28.7%. The next largest groups are White (27.9%) and Two or More Races (20.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Kahlea most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kahlea in the 2020 Census, accounting for 28.7% (71 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Kahlea in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kahlea a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kahlea in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Kahlea still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kahlea in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Kahlea can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Kahlea?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.