Kailey
A feminine diminutive of Kayla, from the Irish name Cailin meaning "girl".
Name Census estimates that about 26,603 living Americans carry the first name Kailey. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kailey today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kailey births was 2004 (1,449 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kailey. 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 Kailey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
27K
~ 1 in 12,884 Americans
Peak year
2004
1,449 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2004 SSA rank
#1,284
Tracked since 1970
Census
Kailey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 22,967 people with the first name Kailey, which placed it at #1,465 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
#1,465
National first-name rank
People counted
23K
22,967 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kailey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kailey is White at 70.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.7%) and Black (5.7%). 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 Kailey 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 Kailey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.1% · 16,097
- Hispanic or Latino15.7% · 3,615
- Black or African American5.7% · 1,305
- Two or more races5.0% · 1,151
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 599
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 200
Gender
Gender distribution for Kailey
Out of the 27,099 babies given the name Kailey since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Kailey as a male name
- Ranked #7,264 in 2004
- 10 male births in 2004
- Peak: 2004 (10 births)
Kailey as a female name
- Ranked #1,284 in 2024
- 180 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (1,439 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kailey appears almost entirely female. Of the 22,962 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kailey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kailey from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 11,846 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
Kailey 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 Kailey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaileys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kailey, while Wyoming, Delaware, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 522 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kailey
The name Kailey is an English feminine name derived from the Gaelic name Cailin, which means "girl" or "young woman." It is a variant spelling of the more common name Kaylee or Kayleigh. The name's origins can be traced back to the medieval Gaelic language spoken in Scotland and Ireland.
Cailin was originally a Scottish and Irish term used as a general description for a young woman or girl, rather than a formal given name. It gained popularity as a first name in the late 20th century, likely due to the increasing trend of using traditional Gaelic names in English-speaking countries.
The earliest recorded use of Kailey as a given name is relatively recent, with records showing it appearing in the late 20th century. However, the name's roots in the Gaelic language and culture date back several centuries.
Throughout history, there are a few notable individuals who have borne the name Kailey or its variants. One such person is Kailey Lafreniere (born 1990), a Canadian former competitive figure skater who represented Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Another notable Kailey is Kailey Kurachenski (born 1992), a Canadian former competitive swimmer who specialized in the breaststroke events. She won a bronze medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.
In literature, Kailey is the name of a character in the young adult novel "Fade" by Lisa McMann, which was published in 2009. The book follows the story of a teenage girl named Janie who has the ability to become invisible.
Kailey Musso (born 1995) is an American actress known for her roles in the Disney Channel series "Wizards of Waverly Place" and the Nickelodeon series "Sam & Cat."
Lastly, Kailey Roberts (born 1975) is a Canadian country music singer and songwriter. She has released several albums and has had several charting singles on the Canadian country music charts.
While the name Kailey is relatively modern, its roots in the Gaelic language and culture give it a rich historical significance, and its increasing popularity in recent decades has led to its association with notable individuals across various fields.
People
Kailey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kailey 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
Kailey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kailey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26,603 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kailey 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 12,884 US residents.
Is Kailey a common name?
We classify Kailey as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 27,099 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kailey most popular?
The single biggest year for Kailey was 2004, when 1,449 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kailey is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kailey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 22,967 people with the name Kailey, or 7.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,465 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 Kailey 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 Kailey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kailey appears almost entirely female. Of the 22,962 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 Kailey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kailey is White at 70.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.7%) and Black (5.7%). 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 Kailey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kailey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.1% (16,097 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 Kailey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kailey a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kailey 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 Kailey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kailey 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 Kailey 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 are named Kailey?
Want to know how many people share the name Kailey? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.