Kayla
A feminine name of modern Hebrew origin meaning "crown of laurels".
Name Census estimates that about 335,778 living Americans carry the first name Kayla. It sits at #336 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kayla today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kayla births was 1991 (18,580 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kayla. 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 Kayla with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kayla is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 574 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Kayla have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
336K
~ 1 in 1,021 Americans
Peak year
1991
18,580 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2019 SSA rank
#336
Tracked since 1933
Census
Kayla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 303,202 people with the first name Kayla, which placed it at #167 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
#167
National first-name rank
People counted
303K
303,202 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
100.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kayla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayla is White at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Black (13.5%) and Hispanic (12.9%). 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 Kayla 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 Kayla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.5% · 195,656
- Black or African American13.5% · 41,080
- Hispanic or Latino12.9% · 39,041
- Two or more races5.4% · 16,283
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 8,916
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2,226
Gender
Gender distribution for Kayla
Out of the 346,297 babies given the name Kayla since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Kayla as a male name
- Ranked #13,149 in 2019
- 5 male births in 2019
- Peak: 1989 (47 births)
Kayla as a female name
- Ranked #336 in 2024
- 931 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (18,545 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kayla appears almost entirely female. Of the 303,207 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kayla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kayla from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 156,122 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kayla 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 Kayla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaylas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Kayla, while Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6,742 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kayla
The name Kayla originated from the Hebrew name Kaye, which means "beloved" or "laurel plant." It gained popularity in the United States and other English-speaking countries in the late 20th century as a feminine form of the name Kyle.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kayla can be traced back to the 1960s in the United States. It is believed to have been derived from the Hebrew root "k-y-l," which means "crown" or "wreath."
In ancient texts, the name Kayla is not found, as it is a relatively modern name. However, the root "k-y-l" is present in several Hebrew names, such as Keila and Kalila.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Kayla was Kayla Baxter-Smedley, an American swimmer born in 1982. She won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
Another famous Kayla is Kayla Harrison, an American judoka and mixed martial artist born in 1990. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo, having won at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
In the entertainment industry, Kayla Ewell, an American actress born in 1985, is known for her roles in various television series, including "The Vampire Diaries" and "Batwoman."
Kayla Rae Reid, an American model born in 1991, gained recognition for her relationship with actor Ryan Lochte and their marriage in 2018.
Lastly, Kayla Treanor, an American lacrosse player born in 1994, is considered one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. She led Syracuse University to two NCAA Division I national championships in 2014 and 2015.
While the name Kayla is relatively new, it has gained widespread popularity and has been borne by notable individuals across various fields, from sports to entertainment.
People
Kayla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kayla 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
Kayla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kayla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 335,778 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kayla 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 1,021 US residents.
Is Kayla a common name?
We classify Kayla as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 346,297 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kayla most popular?
The single biggest year for Kayla was 1991, when 18,580 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kayla is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kayla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 303,202 people with the name Kayla, or 100.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #167 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 Kayla 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 Kayla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kayla appears almost entirely female. Of the 303,207 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Kayla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayla is White at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Black (13.5%) and Hispanic (12.9%). 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 Kayla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kayla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.5% (195,656 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 Kayla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kayla a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Kayla 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 Kayla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kayla 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 Kayla 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 have the name Kayla?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.