Kaley
A feminine name of Celtic origin meaning "slim" or "wise."
Name Census estimates that about 13,321 living Americans carry the first name Kaley. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kaley today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaley births was 2003 (578 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaley. 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 Kaley with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 25,730 Americans
Peak year
2003
578 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
1994 SSA rank
#2,724
Tracked since 1967
Census
Kaley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,425 people with the first name Kaley, which placed it at #2,148 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
#2,148
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,425 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kaley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaley is White at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Kaley 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 Kaley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.2% · 9,714
- Hispanic or Latino10.5% · 1,300
- Two or more races4.5% · 559
- Black or African American3.3% · 410
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 322
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 120
Gender
Gender distribution for Kaley
Out of the 13,667 babies given the name Kaley since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Kaley as a male name
- Ranked #9,557 in 1994
- 5 male births in 1994
- Peak: 1979 (5 births)
Kaley as a female name
- Ranked #2,724 in 2024
- 63 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (578 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaley appears almost entirely female. Of the 12,428 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kaley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaley 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 4,910 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
Kaley 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 Kaley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaleys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. Florida, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Kaley, while New Mexico, Maine, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 282 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaley
The name Kaley is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the Old English word "cæli" or "cælig," meaning "chalice" or "cup." This name was initially used as a surname, referring to someone who was a maker or seller of chalices or cups.
In the Middle Ages, the name Kaley was sometimes used as a diminutive or pet form of the name Cecilia, which was a popular name among early Christian martyrs. Cecilia was the patron saint of music and musicians, and her name was derived from the Roman family name "Caecilius."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kaley can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and tenants in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appeared as "Calei" or "Calai," likely referring to someone associated with the chalice trade or industry.
In the 13th century, a notable historical figure named Kaley de Courtenay lived in England. She was a noblewoman and the wife of Sir Hugh de Courtenay, a prominent military leader during the reign of King Henry III.
Another famous bearer of the name Kaley was Kaley Cuoco, an American actress born in 1985. She is best known for her role as Penny on the popular sitcom "The Big Bang Theory," which aired from 2007 to 2019.
In literature, the name Kaley was used for a character in the novel "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho, published in 1988. Kaley was a young woman who accompanied the protagonist on his journey to find his Personal Legend.
Other notable individuals with the name Kaley include Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting (born 1985), an American actress and producer; Kaley Hay (born 1992), an Australian swimmer; and Kaley Pearson (born 1996), an American soccer player.
The name Kaley has been used throughout history, albeit not as commonly as some other names. Its origins can be traced back to Old English, and it has been associated with various trades, religious figures, and literary characters over the centuries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kaley
People
Kaley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaley 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
Kaley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,321 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaley 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 25,730 US residents.
Is Kaley a common name?
We classify Kaley as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,667 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaley most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaley was 2003, when 578 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaley is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kaley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,425 people with the name Kaley, or 4.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,148 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 Kaley 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 Kaley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaley appears almost entirely female. Of the 12,428 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 Kaley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaley is White at 78.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Two or More Races (4.5%). 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 Kaley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kaley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.2% (9,714 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 Kaley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kaley a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Kaley 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 Kaley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kaley 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 Kaley 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 have the name Kaley?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.