Kylie
A feminine name of English origin, a diminutive form of Kyle meaning "boomerang" or "wood".
Name Census estimates that about 118,692 living Americans carry the first name Kylie. It sits at #189 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kylie today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kylie births was 2004 (5,597 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kylie. 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 Kylie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kylie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 450 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
119K
~ 1 in 2,888 Americans
Peak year
2004
5,597 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2022 SSA rank
#189
Tracked since 1960
Census
Kylie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 103,256 people with the first name Kylie, which placed it at #540 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
#540
National first-name rank
People counted
103K
103,256 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
34.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kylie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kylie is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.0%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Kylie 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 Kylie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.9% · 77,298
- Hispanic or Latino10.0% · 10,282
- Two or more races5.8% · 5,994
- Black or African American5.4% · 5,580
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 3,185
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 917
Gender
Gender distribution for Kylie
Out of the 120,829 babies given the name Kylie since 1880, 99.6% 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.
Kylie as a male name
- Ranked #10,399 in 2022
- 7 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2004 (40 births)
Kylie as a female name
- Ranked #189 in 2024
- 1,594 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (5,558 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kylie appears almost entirely female. Of the 103,241 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kylie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kylie from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 46,594 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
Kylie 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 Kylie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kylies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kylie, while District of Columbia, Vermont, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,340 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kylie
The name Kylie has its origins in the Australian Aboriginal language Gamilaraay, spoken by the indigenous people of northern New South Wales. It derives from the Gamilaraay word "kylie" or "guliray," meaning "boomerang." The boomerang holds deep cultural significance as a hunting tool and a symbol of the connection between the Aboriginal people and the land.
The earliest recorded use of Kylie as a given name dates back to the late 19th century in Australia. It was traditionally a gender-neutral name, though in modern times it has become more commonly associated with females. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Kylie Tennant, an Australian novelist and playwright born in 1912.
In ancient Aboriginal mythology, the boomerang is said to have been created by the great spirit Biame and given to the people as a tool for hunting and warfare. The name Kylie, with its connection to this iconic weapon, may have been seen as a powerful and auspicious name for children.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Kylie is Kylie Minogue, the Australian singer and actress born in 1968. Her rise to international stardom in the late 1980s and 1990s helped to popularize the name globally. Other notable individuals named Kylie include Kylie Kwong, an Australian chef and author born in 1969, and Kylie Jenner, an American media personality and businesswoman born in 1997.
In the realm of sports, Kylie Masse, a Canadian swimmer born in 1996, has made a name for herself, winning multiple Olympic and World Championship medals. Kylie Shaughnessy, an American gymnast born in 1992, has also achieved success in her field, competing in the 2012 Olympic Games.
While the name Kylie has its roots in a specific Aboriginal language and culture, it has transcended its origins and gained widespread popularity around the world, particularly in English-speaking countries. Its unique sound and connection to the iconic boomerang have made it a distinctive and appealing choice for parents seeking a name with a touch of cultural significance and a sense of adventure.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kylie
People
Kylie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kylie 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
Kylie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kylie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 118,692 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kylie 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 2,888 US residents.
Is Kylie a common name?
We classify Kylie as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 120,829 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kylie most popular?
The single biggest year for Kylie was 2004, when 5,597 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kylie is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kylie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 103,256 people with the name Kylie, or 34.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #540 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 Kylie 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 Kylie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kylie appears almost entirely female. Of the 103,241 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Kylie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kylie is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.0%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Kylie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kylie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (77,298 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 Kylie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kylie a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Kylie 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 Kylie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kylie 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 Kylie 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 share the name Kylie?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.