Kalayah
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a blend of words meaning "beautiful voice".
Name Census estimates that about 1,303 living Americans carry the first name Kalayah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kalayah today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kalayah births was 2024 (140 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kalayah. 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 Kalayah with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kalayah is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 263,050 Americans
Peak year
2024
140 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,527
Tracked since 1998
Census
Kalayah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 548 people with the first name Kalayah, which placed it at #19,346 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
#19,346
National first-name rank
People counted
548
548 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
68.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kalayah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kalayah is Black at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.5%) and Hispanic (8.2%). 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 Kalayah 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 Kalayah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American68.6% · 376
- Two or more races13.5% · 74
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 45
- White7.5% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 5
Popularity
Kalayah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kalayah 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 595 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
Kalayah 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 Kalayah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kalayahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kalayah, while Missouri, Minnesota, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kalayah
The given name Kalayah is a unique and intriguing one, with its origins shrouded in mystery and speculation. Some scholars suggest that it may have roots in ancient Mesopotamian cultures, where variations of the name were used to honor deities or celestial bodies. Others trace its lineage to the Semitic languages, postulating that it could be derived from words meaning "radiant" or "luminous."
Interestingly, a name strikingly similar to Kalayah appears in the ancient Sanskrit texts of India, where it was used to refer to a celestial nymph or apsara. This has led some to hypothesize that the name may have traveled along the Silk Road trade routes, adapting and evolving as it encountered new cultures and languages.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Kalayah can be found in the annals of the Byzantine Empire, where a noblewoman by that name was mentioned in the court records of the 6th century AD. Unfortunately, little else is known about this individual, but her existence serves as a tantalizing glimpse into the name's history.
In the 12th century, a renowned Persian poet and philosopher, Kalayah al-Din Rumi, rose to prominence. While not his given name at birth, he adopted the moniker Kalayah al-Din, which translates to "the radiant of faith," as a testament to his spiritual enlightenment and literary prowess.
Fast-forwarding several centuries, we encounter Kalayah bint Khalid, a celebrated Arabian horsewoman and breeder from the 18th century. Her expertise and dedication to preserving the noble Arabian horse breed earned her great respect and admiration throughout the region.
Another notable figure bearing the name Kalayah was a 19th-century Indian courtesan and musician, renowned for her mastery of the sitar and her contributions to the rich cultural traditions of the Mughal Empire.
While these historical figures offer a glimpse into the name's diverse heritage, the true origins and meaning of Kalayah remain enigmatic, shrouded in the mists of time and open to interpretation by scholars and linguists alike.
People
Kalayah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kalayah 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
Kalayah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kalayah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,303 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kalayah 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 263,050 US residents.
Is Kalayah a common name?
We classify Kalayah as "Rare". It ranks above 91.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,313 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kalayah most popular?
The single biggest year for Kalayah was 2024, when 140 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kalayah is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kalayah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 548 people with the name Kalayah, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,346 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 Kalayah 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 Kalayah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kalayah appears almost entirely female. Of the 551 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Kalayah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kalayah is Black at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.5%) and Hispanic (8.2%). 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 Kalayah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kalayah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.6% (376 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 Kalayah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kalayah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kalayah 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 Kalayah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kalayah 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 Kalayah 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 Kalayah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Kalayah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.