Kela
Hawaiian name meaning "release, untie" or "laxative".
Name Census estimates that about 841 living Americans carry the first name Kela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kela today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kela births was 1994 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kela. 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
841
~ 1 in 407,556 Americans
Peak year
1994
32 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2016 SSA rank
#12,330
Tracked since 1950
Census
Kela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 970 people with the first name Kela, which placed it at #12,724 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
#12,724
National first-name rank
People counted
970
970 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
40.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kela is Black at 40.8%. The next largest groups are White (34.4%) and Two or More Races (9.4%). 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 Kela 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 Kela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American40.8% · 396
- White34.4% · 334
- Two or more races9.4% · 91
- Hispanic or Latino9.1% · 88
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 51
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 10
Popularity
Kela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kela from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 239 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
Kela 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 Kela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kelas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Hawaii, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Kela, while Louisiana, Hawaii, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 15 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kela
The name Kela is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which was the classical language of ancient India. It is thought to be derived from the Sanskrit word "kela," which means "banana tree" or "plantain." The name is believed to have been in use since ancient times, particularly in the Indian subcontinent.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Kela can be found in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In the epic, Kela is mentioned as the name of a character who was a skilled archer and warrior.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Kela. One of the earliest recorded individuals was Kela, a Buddhist monk who lived in the 5th century CE and is credited with introducing Buddhism to the island of Sri Lanka.
Another notable figure with the name Kela was Kela Devi, a 16th-century Indian queen who ruled the Mewat region of present-day Haryana and Rajasthan. She was known for her bravery and military prowess, and her reign was marked by several successful campaigns against neighboring kingdoms.
In the 18th century, there was a famous Indian musician named Kela Khan, who was a court musician in the royal court of the Mughal Empire. He was renowned for his skills in playing the sitar and his compositions are still widely performed and studied today.
During the 19th century, Kela Nath was a prominent Indian freedom fighter who participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against British colonial rule. He was a leader of the rebel forces in the region of Awadh and played a significant role in the uprising.
In more recent times, Kela Loknath was an Indian social reformer and activist who lived from 1901 to 1980. He worked tirelessly for the upliftment of marginalized communities and was a strong advocate for women's education and empowerment.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Kela. While the name has its roots in ancient Sanskrit, it has been carried forward and embraced by people across different cultures and regions, particularly in the Indian subcontinent.
People
Kela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kela 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
Kela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 841 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kela 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 407,556 US residents.
Is Kela a common name?
We classify Kela as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 901 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kela most popular?
The single biggest year for Kela was 1994, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kela is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 970 people with the name Kela, or 0.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,724 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 Kela 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 Kela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kela leans strongly female. 912 people counted with this name were female (94.3%), compared with 55 male bearers (5.7%). 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 Kela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kela is Black at 40.8%. The next largest groups are White (34.4%) and Two or More Races (9.4%). 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 Kela most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.8% (396 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 Kela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kela 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 Kela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kela 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 Kela 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 Americans are named Kela?
See how many Americans are named Kela on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.