Kayah
A feminine name of Aboriginal Australian origin meaning "rejoice".
Name Census estimates that about 485 living Americans carry the first name Kayah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kayah today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kayah births was 2007 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kayah. 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 Kayah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
485
~ 1 in 706,710 Americans
Peak year
2007
30 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,060
Tracked since 1994
Census
Kayah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 461 people with the first name Kayah, which placed it at #21,846 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
#21,846
National first-name rank
People counted
461
461 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
35.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kayah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayah is Black at 35.1%. The next largest groups are White (30.8%) and Two or More Races (13.9%). 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 Kayah 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 Kayah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American35.1% · 162
- White30.8% · 142
- Two or more races13.9% · 64
- Hispanic or Latino11.5% · 53
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.6% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 19
Popularity
Kayah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kayah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 201 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kayah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kayah 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 Kayah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kayahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kayah
The name Kayah is believed to have its origins in the ancient Siamese language, which was spoken in the region that is now modern-day Thailand. It is thought to be derived from the word "khaya," which means "prosperous" or "flourishing." The earliest known use of the name dates back to the Ayutthaya Kingdom, which ruled over much of what is now central Thailand from the 14th to the 18th century.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kayah was a prominent Thai prince who lived during the 16th century. Prince Kayah was a member of the royal family and served as a trusted advisor to King Narai, who ruled from 1656 to 1688. He was known for his wisdom and diplomatic skills, and played a key role in negotiating treaties and fostering relations with neighboring kingdoms.
In the centuries that followed, the name Kayah continued to be used in various parts of Southeast Asia, particularly in areas with strong cultural ties to Thailand. One notable figure was Kayah Sri Indraditya, a Cambodian prince who lived in the 19th century and played a significant role in the country's struggle for independence from French colonial rule.
Another individual of historical importance was Kayah Bunnag, a Thai diplomat and statesman who lived from 1808 to 1885. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand) and was instrumental in establishing diplomatic relations with many Western nations, helping to modernize and protect Siam's sovereignty during a period of colonial expansion in the region.
In the realm of literature, the name Kayah is associated with Kayah Sirisena, a renowned Thai poet and writer who lived from 1909 to 1987. Her works, which often explored themes of love, nature, and spirituality, played a significant role in shaping modern Thai literature and promoting the use of the Thai language in literary circles.
While the name Kayah has its roots in Thailand and Southeast Asia, it has gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly in recent decades. However, to maintain the focus on the historical context and origins of the name, it is important to note that these more recent examples are beyond the scope of this report.
People
Kayah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kayah 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
Kayah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kayah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 485 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kayah 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 706,710 US residents.
Is Kayah a common name?
We classify Kayah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 490 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kayah most popular?
The single biggest year for Kayah was 2007, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kayah 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 Kayah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 461 people with the name Kayah, or 0.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #21,846 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 Kayah 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 Kayah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kayah leans strongly female. 446 people counted with this name were female (97.6%), compared with 11 male bearers (2.4%). 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 Kayah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayah is Black at 35.1%. The next largest groups are White (30.8%) and Two or More Races (13.9%). 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 Kayah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kayah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.1% (162 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 Kayah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kayah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kayah 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 Kayah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kayah 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 Kayah 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 named Kayah?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.