Kaela
A feminine name of Hawaiian origin meaning "the laurel tree".
Name Census estimates that about 6,156 living Americans carry the first name Kaela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kaela today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaela births was 1996 (345 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaela. 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 Kaela with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.2K
~ 1 in 55,678 Americans
Peak year
1996
345 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,347
Tracked since 1967
Census
Kaela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,590 people with the first name Kaela, which placed it at #3,649 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
#3,649
National first-name rank
People counted
5.6K
5,590 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kaela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaela is White at 58.9%. The next largest groups are Black (13.9%) and Hispanic (12.4%). 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 Kaela 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 Kaela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.9% · 3,291
- Black or African American13.9% · 776
- Hispanic or Latino12.4% · 691
- Two or more races9.3% · 522
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.0% · 278
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 32
Popularity
Kaela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaela from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 2,847 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
Kaela 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 Kaela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaelas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Kaela, while Rhode Island, Oklahoma, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 124 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaela
The name Kaela is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language, derived from the word "ka'el," meaning "daughter of God" or "heavenly daughter." Its roots can be traced back to ancient Semitic languages spoken in the Middle East region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kaela can be found in the biblical text of the Old Testament, where it is mentioned as a variant spelling of the name Keila, a city in the Judean hills. This suggests that the name has been in use for centuries, potentially dating back to ancient Israelite and Jewish cultures.
In the medieval period, the name Kaela was occasionally used as a feminine form of the male name Kael, which itself was a variation of the more common name Michael. During this time, the name was primarily found in various European regions, particularly among Jewish communities.
One notable historical figure bearing the name Kaela was Kaela Cuerta, a 13th-century Jewish philosopher and scholar from Spain. She was renowned for her contributions to the field of metaphysics and her influential writings on the nature of the soul.
Another famous bearer of the name was Kaela Beaumont, a 15th-century French noblewoman and courtier during the reign of King Louis XI. She played a significant role in the cultural and artistic life of the French royal court.
In the 16th century, Kaela Vespucci, an Italian explorer and navigator, accompanied her cousin Amerigo Vespucci on several voyages to the Americas. She is credited with documenting valuable information about the flora and fauna of the New World.
The 17th century saw the birth of Kaela von Schönborn, a German countess and patron of the arts. She was instrumental in commissioning numerous works of art and architecture, leaving a lasting impact on the cultural landscape of her time.
In more recent history, Kaela Kapoor was a renowned Indian classical dancer and choreographer who lived from 1920 to 2012. She played a pivotal role in preserving and promoting the traditional dance forms of India, earning numerous accolades and honors throughout her illustrious career.
People
Kaela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaela 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
Kaela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaela 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 55,678 US residents.
Is Kaela a common name?
We classify Kaela as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6,338 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaela most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaela was 1996, when 345 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaela is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kaela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,590 people with the name Kaela, or 1.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,649 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 Kaela 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 Kaela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaela appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,598 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Kaela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaela is White at 58.9%. The next largest groups are Black (13.9%) and Hispanic (12.4%). 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 Kaela most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kaela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.9% (3,291 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 Kaela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kaela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kaela 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 Kaela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kaela 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 Kaela 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 Kaela?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.