Kyle
A masculine English name of obscure meaning, possibly related to a Scottish surname.
Name Census estimates that about 472,628 living Americans carry the first name Kyle. It sits at #439 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Kyle today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kyle births was 1990 (22,947 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kyle. 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 Kyle with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kyle is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 8,915 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1990s, recent registration numbers for Kyle have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
473K
~ 1 in 725 Americans
Peak year
1990
22,947 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#439
Tracked since 1881
Census
Kyle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 436,136 people with the first name Kyle, which placed it at #105 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
#105
National first-name rank
People counted
436K
436,136 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
144.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kyle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kyle is White at 83.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.6%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Kyle 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 Kyle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.0% · 361,908
- Black or African American4.6% · 20,118
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 18,307
- Two or more races4.1% · 18,062
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 14,230
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3,511
Gender
Gender distribution for Kyle
Kyle leans heavily male at 98.2% of total registrations, but 8,915 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kyle as a male name
- Ranked #439 in 2024
- 716 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (22,710 births)
Kyle as a female name
- Ranked #4,511 in 2024
- 31 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1987 (319 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kyle leans strongly male. 428,758 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 7,393 female bearers (1.7%).
Popularity
Kyle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kyle from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 181,612 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
Kyle 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 Kyle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kyles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kyle, while District of Columbia, Wyoming, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9,576 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kyle
The name Kyle has its origins in the Celtic language and culture, dating back to the Middle Ages. Its earliest form was the Gaelic name "Cailill" or "Caolaidhe," derived from the words "cael" meaning "slender" and "gille" meaning "lad" or "servant."
This name was particularly popular in Scotland and Ireland, where it was often associated with the Clan Kyle, a prominent Scottish clan with roots in Ayrshire. The name Kyle is also believed to have been influenced by the Norse word "keila," which means "narrow strip of land."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kyle can be found in the medieval Irish text "Annals of the Four Masters," which mentions a King Cailill of Connacht in the 7th century. The name also appears in various Scottish historical records and documents from the 11th century onwards.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Kyle. One of the earliest was Kyle of Lochalsh (c. 1010-1070), a Scottish warrior and Chief of the Clan Mackenzie. Another prominent figure was Kyle Oge O'Donnell (c. 1509-1566), an Irish chieftain and Lord of Tyrconnell.
In more recent times, Kyle Rote Jr. (1942-2018) was an American soccer player and coach who played for the United States national team and was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Kyle Petty (born 1960) is a former NASCAR driver and current television analyst, while Kyle Korver (born 1981) is a retired professional basketball player who spent 17 seasons in the NBA.
Other notable individuals with the name Kyle include Kyle MacLachlan (born 1959), an American actor known for his roles in films such as "Dune" and "Blue Velvet," and Kyle Chandler (born 1965), an American actor who starred in the critically acclaimed television series "Friday Night Lights."
These examples demonstrate the enduring popularity and diverse cultural influences of the name Kyle, which has evolved from its Celtic roots to become a recognizable name across various regions and time periods.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kyle
People
Kyle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kyle 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
Kyle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kyle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 472,628 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kyle 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 725 US residents.
Is Kyle a common name?
We classify Kyle 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, 494,085 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kyle most popular?
The single biggest year for Kyle was 1990, when 22,947 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kyle is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kyle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 436,136 people with the name Kyle, or 144.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #105 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 Kyle 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 Kyle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kyle leans strongly male. 428,758 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 7,393 female bearers (1.7%). 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 Kyle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kyle is White at 83.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.6%) and Hispanic (4.2%). 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 Kyle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kyle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.0% (361,908 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 Kyle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kyle a male name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Kyle 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 Kyle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kyle 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 Kyle 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 Kyle?
See how many people have the name Kyle on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.