Kaizer
Germanic origin meaning "emperor" or "leader of men".
Name Census estimates that about 1,211 living Americans carry the first name Kaizer. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kaizer today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaizer births was 2024 (161 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaizer. 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 Kaizer with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kaizer is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 7 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 283,034 Americans
Peak year
2024
161 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,237
Tracked since 1996
Census
Kaizer in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 502 people with the first name Kaizer, which placed it at #20,542 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
#20,542
National first-name rank
People counted
502
502 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kaizer
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaizer is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Black (17.3%) and Hispanic (14.1%). 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 Kaizer 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 Kaizer at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.2% · 242
- Black or African American17.3% · 87
- Hispanic or Latino14.1% · 71
- Two or more races9.8% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander9.4% · 47
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Kaizer
Out of the 1,220 babies given the name Kaizer since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Kaizer as a male name
- Ranked #1,237 in 2024
- 161 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (161 births)
Kaizer as a female name
- Ranked #16,304 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaizer leans strongly male. 498 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 7 female bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Kaizer: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaizer from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 699 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kaizer 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 Kaizer during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaizers live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Kaizer, while Virginia, Arkansas, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaizer
The name Kaizer is derived from the German word "Kaiser," which means "emperor" or "ruler." This name has its origins in the Germanic languages and can be traced back to the Roman era.
During the reign of the Roman Empire, the title "Caesar" was used to refer to the emperors who ruled over the vast territories controlled by Rome. Over time, this title evolved into the German word "Kaiser," which became a common name and title for German rulers and nobility.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kaizer can be found in the chronicles of the Holy Roman Empire, where it was used to refer to the emperors who ruled over large parts of central Europe during the Middle Ages. The most famous of these was Frederick I, also known as Frederick Barbarossa (c. 1122-1190), who reigned as the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death.
Another notable figure who bore the name Kaizer was Kaiser Wilhelm I (1797-1888), the first German Emperor and the leader who unified the German states into a single nation in 1871. His reign marked a significant period in German history and solidified the country's position as a major European power.
In more recent times, the name Kaizer has been associated with several prominent individuals. One example is Kaizer Chiefs, a South African football club based in Johannesburg, which was founded in 1970 and named after the club's original founder, Kaizer Motaung.
Additionally, Kaizer Nyatsumba (born 1990) is a Zimbabwean professional footballer who has played for various clubs in South Africa and Europe. Another notable bearer of the name is Kaizer Mabhilidi Nyatsumba (born 1985), a South African actor best known for his role in the television series "Skeem Saam."
Throughout history, the name Kaizer has been associated with leadership, power, and authority, reflecting its roots in the German word for "emperor." While its popularity may have fluctuated over time, it remains a name with a rich historical legacy and a strong connection to the Germanic cultural heritage.
People
Kaizer + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaizer 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
Kaizer: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaizer?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,211 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaizer 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 283,034 US residents.
Is Kaizer a common name?
We classify Kaizer as "Rare". It ranks above 91.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,220 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaizer most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaizer was 2024, when 161 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaizer is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kaizer in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 502 people with the name Kaizer, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,542 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 Kaizer 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 Kaizer?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaizer leans strongly male. 498 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 7 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Kaizer?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaizer is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Black (17.3%) and Hispanic (14.1%). 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 Kaizer most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kaizer in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.2% (242 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 Kaizer in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kaizer a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Kaizer 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 Kaizer still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kaizer 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 Kaizer 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 Kaizer?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.