Kayleb
A masculine name of Celtic origin meaning "slender and bright".
Name Census estimates that about 2,375 living Americans carry the first name Kayleb. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kayleb today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kayleb births was 2010 (171 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kayleb. 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 Kayleb with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kayleb is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 144,318 Americans
Peak year
2010
171 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,246
Tracked since 1987
Census
Kayleb in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,771 people with the first name Kayleb, which placed it at #8,229 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
#8,229
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,771 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kayleb
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayleb is White at 49.7%. The next largest groups are Black (19.8%) and Hispanic (17.4%). 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 Kayleb 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 Kayleb at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.7% · 880
- Black or African American19.8% · 350
- Hispanic or Latino17.4% · 308
- Two or more races8.6% · 153
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 34
Popularity
Kayleb: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kayleb 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 1,114 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kayleb 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 Kayleb during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaylebs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kayleb, while Virginia, Utah, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 39 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kayleb
The name Kayleb is a modern variation of the Hebrew name Caleb, which is derived from the biblical figure Caleb from the Old Testament. The name Caleb is believed to have originated from the Hebrew word "kelev," meaning "dog" or "faithful companion."
In the Book of Numbers, Caleb is introduced as one of the twelve spies sent by Moses to explore the land of Canaan. Caleb and Joshua were the only two spies who remained faithful to God and encouraged the Israelites to proceed with the conquest of Canaan. As a result, Caleb was rewarded with a portion of land in the Promised Land.
The earliest recorded use of the name Caleb can be traced back to the biblical account, making it one of the oldest names in recorded history. Throughout the centuries, the name has been used across various cultures and regions, often associated with its biblical origins and the virtues of faithfulness and loyalty.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Caleb was Caleb Cushing, an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as the United States Attorney General from 1853 to 1857. Another prominent individual was Caleb Brewster, a American Revolutionary War spy who played a crucial role in the Culper Ring, a spy network that provided valuable intelligence to the Continental Army during the war.
In more recent history, Caleb Carr, an American novelist and military historian born in 1955, is known for his bestselling novel "The Alienist." Caleb Followill, born in 1982, is the lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band Kings of Leon.
The name Kayleb, while a modern variation, carries the essence of the original Hebrew name Caleb. It has gained popularity in recent years as a unique and distinctive name choice, often associated with its biblical roots and the virtues of faithfulness and loyalty.
People
Kayleb + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kayleb 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
Kayleb: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kayleb?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,375 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kayleb 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 144,318 US residents.
Is Kayleb a common name?
We classify Kayleb as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,400 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kayleb most popular?
The single biggest year for Kayleb was 2010, when 171 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kayleb is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kayleb in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,771 people with the name Kayleb, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,229 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 Kayleb 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 Kayleb?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kayleb leans strongly male. 1,737 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 26 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Kayleb?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayleb is White at 49.7%. The next largest groups are Black (19.8%) and Hispanic (17.4%). 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 Kayleb most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kayleb in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.7% (880 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 Kayleb in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kayleb a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kayleb in the SSA data are male. 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 Kayleb still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kayleb 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 Kayleb 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 Kayleb as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.