Kaia
Hawaiian name meaning "sea" or "ocean".
Name Census estimates that about 19,122 living Americans carry the first name Kaia. It sits at #180 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kaia today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaia births was 2024 (1,675 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaia. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Kaia with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kaia is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 53 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Kaia is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
19K
~ 1 in 17,925 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,675 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2020 SSA rank
#180
Tracked since 1955
Census
Kaia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,571 people with the first name Kaia, which placed it at #2,252 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
#2,252
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,571 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kaia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaia is White at 54.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (18.2%) and Hispanic (11.8%). 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 Kaia 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 Kaia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.2% · 6,270
- Two or more races18.2% · 2,104
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 1,363
- Black or African American9.4% · 1,083
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.6% · 649
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 102
Gender
Gender distribution for Kaia
Out of the 19,333 babies given the name Kaia since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Kaia as a male name
- Ranked #11,278 in 2020
- 6 male births in 2020
- Peak: 2016 (10 births)
Kaia as a female name
- Ranked #180 in 2024
- 1,675 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,675 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaia appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,567 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kaia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaia from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 7,258 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kaia 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 Kaia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaias live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Florida, Texas recorded the most babies named Kaia, while West Virginia, Mississippi, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 357 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaia
The name Kaia has its origins in the Hawaiian language and culture. It is believed to have emerged in the late 18th century on the Hawaiian Islands. The name is derived from the Hawaiian word "kai," which means "sea" or "ocean." Kaia is a feminine form of the word and is thought to have been given to girls born near the sea or with a connection to the ocean.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kaia can be found in the Hawaiian creation chant, the Kumulipo. This ancient chant, which dates back to the 18th century, mentions the name Kaia in relation to the creation of the world and the emergence of life from the sea.
Historically, the name Kaia was particularly popular among the Hawaiian nobility and royal families. One notable figure who bore this name was Princess Kaia Kahanokahi, who lived in the late 18th century and was a member of the Hawaiian royal family. She was known for her beauty and grace, and her name became synonymous with these qualities.
Another significant figure who carried the name Kaia was Kaia Kamohoalii, a Hawaiian chieftess who lived in the early 19th century. She was renowned for her leadership skills and played a crucial role in the unification of the Hawaiian Islands under King Kamehameha I.
In the 20th century, the name Kaia gained popularity beyond the Hawaiian Islands. One notable bearer of this name was Kaia Kanepi, an Estonian tennis player born in 1994. She achieved notable success on the professional tennis circuit and reached a career-high ranking of No. 15 in the world.
Another famous Kaia was Kaia Gerber, an American model and actress born in 2001. She is the daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford and has made her mark in the fashion industry, gracing the covers of numerous magazines and walking in high-profile fashion shows.
While the name Kaia has Hawaiian roots, it has transcended its cultural origins and gained popularity globally, particularly in recent decades. Its connection to the sea and the ocean's beauty and power has made it an attractive choice for parents seeking a name with a unique and meaningful origin.
People
Kaia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaia 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
Kaia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 19,122 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaia 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 17,925 US residents.
Is Kaia a common name?
We classify Kaia as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 19,333 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaia most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaia was 2024, when 1,675 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaia is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kaia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,571 people with the name Kaia, or 3.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,252 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 Kaia 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 Kaia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaia appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,567 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Kaia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaia is White at 54.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (18.2%) and Hispanic (11.8%). 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 Kaia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kaia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.2% (6,270 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 Kaia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kaia a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Kaia 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 Kaia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kaia 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 Kaia 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 many people are called Kaia?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.