Kaiyla
A feminine name derived from the French word meaning "the key holder".
Name Census estimates that about 161 living Americans carry the first name Kaiyla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kaiyla today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaiyla births was 2003 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaiyla. 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 Kaiyla with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
161
~ 1 in 2,128,909 Americans
Peak year
2003
13 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2014 SSA rank
#17,804
Tracked since 1990
Census
Kaiyla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 155 people with the first name Kaiyla, which placed it at #44,540 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
#44,540
National first-name rank
People counted
155
155 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
47.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kaiyla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaiyla is Black at 47.1%. The next largest groups are White (23.9%) and Hispanic (16.8%). 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 Kaiyla 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 Kaiyla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American47.1% · 73
- White23.9% · 37
- Hispanic or Latino16.8% · 26
- Two or more races9.7% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 2
Popularity
Kaiyla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaiyla from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 88 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
Kaiyla 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 Kaiyla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaiyla
The name Kaiyla is a modern variation of the Hebrew name Kayla, which means "crown" or "laurel wreath." The name has its roots in the ancient Hebrew language, which was spoken by the Israelites in the Middle East during biblical times.
While the exact origin of the name Kaiyla is unclear, it likely emerged as a creative spelling variation of Kayla in the late 20th or early 21st century. The addition of the letter "i" before the "y" may have been influenced by other names with similar spellings or as a way to create a unique and distinctive name.
The name Kayla has a long history and can be traced back to the Hebrew Bible, where it appears as a reference to a laurel wreath or crown worn by victors or honored individuals. In ancient Greek and Roman cultures, laurel wreaths were also symbols of honor and victory, suggesting a connection between the name's meaning and these traditions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kayla can be found in the Book of Psalms, where it is mentioned as a part of a praise or song. However, it is unclear if this was used as a personal name at that time or simply a reference to a laurel wreath.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Kaiyla or its variations. One example is Kayla Mueller (1988-2015), an American humanitarian aid worker who was tragically killed while being held hostage by the Islamic State in Syria.
Another notable Kayla is Kayla Harrison (born 1990), an American judoka and Olympic gold medalist in judo at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics.
In literature, Kayla is the name of a character in the novel "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" by Ann Brashares, published in 2001.
Kaiyla Hagen (born 1995) is a Canadian swimmer who has represented Canada in international competitions, including the Commonwealth Games and the Pan American Games.
Lastly, Kaiyla Fairchild (born 1998) is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the pole vault and holds multiple national records in her age group.
People
Kaiyla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaiyla 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
Kaiyla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaiyla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 161 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaiyla 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 2,128,909 US residents.
Is Kaiyla a common name?
We classify Kaiyla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 165 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaiyla most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaiyla was 2003, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaiyla is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kaiyla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 155 people with the name Kaiyla, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,540 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 Kaiyla 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 Kaiyla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaiyla appears almost entirely female. Of the 150 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Kaiyla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaiyla is Black at 47.1%. The next largest groups are White (23.9%) and Hispanic (16.8%). 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 Kaiyla most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kaiyla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.1% (73 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 Kaiyla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kaiyla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kaiyla 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 Kaiyla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kaiyla 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 Kaiyla 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 Kaiyla?
Want to know how many people share the name Kaiyla? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.