Kayly
A feminine name of uncertain origin meaning "pure" or "innocent".
Name Census estimates that about 422 living Americans carry the first name Kayly. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kayly today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kayly births was 2004 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kayly. 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
422
~ 1 in 812,214 Americans
Peak year
2004
32 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2020 SSA rank
#11,606
Tracked since 1987
Census
Kayly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 535 people with the first name Kayly, which placed it at #19,659 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
#19,659
National first-name rank
People counted
535
535 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
41.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kayly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayly is Hispanic at 41.3%. The next largest groups are White (40.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.3%). 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 Kayly 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 Kayly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino41.3% · 221
- White40.4% · 216
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.3% · 55
- Black or African American4.1% · 22
- Two or more races2.6% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 7
Popularity
Kayly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kayly from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 202 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kayly 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 Kayly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaylys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Kayly, while New York, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kayly
The name Kayly is a modern variant of the feminine given name Kayley, which has its origins in the English language. The name is thought to have derived from the Old English word "cæga," meaning "key" or "lock." This suggests that the name may have been initially used to symbolize a person who held a position of importance, such as a keeper of keys or a gatekeeper.
In the Middle Ages, the name Kayley gained popularity in England and was often used as a diminutive form of the name Katherine. Historical records from this period show variations in the spelling, including Kayleigh, Kaylea, and Kayleigh. While the name was primarily used in England during this time, it eventually spread to other parts of the British Isles and beyond.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kayly can be found in the Domesday Book, a medieval census commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The entry mentions a woman named Caylia, which is believed to be an early variant of the name Kayly.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kayly or its variants. One such person was Kayly Rede (c. 1420 - 1480), an English noblewoman and lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of King Edward IV. Another prominent figure was Kayley Browne (1550 - 1610), an English courtier and one of the first female poetasters recognized in England.
In the realm of literature, the name Kayly appeared in the 14th-century Middle English romance "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." In this work, Kayly is depicted as a young and beautiful woman who plays a significant role in the story.
Other notable individuals with the name Kayly include Kayly Kendall (1892 - 1972), an American actress and singer who performed on Broadway and in Hollywood films, and Kayly Fritzler (1929 - 2008), a Swiss painter and sculptor known for her abstract expressionist works.
While the name Kayly has maintained a certain level of popularity throughout history, it has experienced a resurgence in recent decades, particularly in English-speaking countries. This renewed interest in the name may be attributed to its unique spelling and its association with themes of strength, independence, and individuality.
People
Kayly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kayly 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
Kayly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kayly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 422 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kayly 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 812,214 US residents.
Is Kayly a common name?
We classify Kayly as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 430 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kayly most popular?
The single biggest year for Kayly was 2004, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kayly is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kayly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 535 people with the name Kayly, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,659 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 Kayly 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 Kayly?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kayly appears almost entirely female. Of the 532 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Kayly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayly is Hispanic at 41.3%. The next largest groups are White (40.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.3%). 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 Kayly most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Kayly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.3% (221 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 Kayly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kayly a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kayly 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 Kayly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kayly 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 Kayly 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 Kayly?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.