Kayda
Rare American feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from Cady or Kay.
Name Census estimates that about 473 living Americans carry the first name Kayda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kayda today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kayda births was 2007 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kayda. 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 Kayda with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
473
~ 1 in 724,639 Americans
Peak year
2007
30 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,769
Tracked since 1949
Census
Kayda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 410 people with the first name Kayda, which placed it at #23,765 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
#23,765
National first-name rank
People counted
410
410 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kayda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayda is White at 65.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Hispanic (8.3%). 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 Kayda 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 Kayda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.9% · 270
- Black or African American10.5% · 43
- Hispanic or Latino8.3% · 34
- Two or more races8.3% · 34
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.4% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 7
Popularity
Kayda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kayda from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 196 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kayda remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kayda 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 Kayda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaydas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kayda
The name Kayda has its origins in Arabic culture, deriving from the word "qaida" which means "leader" or "guide." Its earliest recorded use dates back to the 7th century AD, during the Golden Age of Islam.
In ancient Arabic texts, the name Kayda was often associated with wise and influential figures, particularly scholars and philosophers. One of the earliest notable individuals with this name was Kayda al-Baghdadi, a renowned mathematician and astronomer who lived in Baghdad during the 9th century AD.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Kayda gained popularity among the ruling classes of various Islamic empires. One of the most famous bearers of this name was Kayda al-Andalusi, a 12th-century poet and scholar from Andalusia, known for her contributions to the literary and intellectual life of the region.
In the 14th century, Kayda al-Maraghi, a renowned Persian astronomer and mathematician, made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and wrote several influential works on the subject.
During the Ottoman Empire, the name Kayda was often given to those who demonstrated leadership qualities or a strong sense of guidance. One such individual was Kayda Pasha, a 16th-century Ottoman statesman and military commander who played a crucial role in the expansion of the empire's territories.
Another notable figure was Kayda al-Marrakushi, a 17th-century Moroccan explorer and traveler who embarked on numerous journeys across Africa and the Middle East, documenting his experiences and observations in detailed accounts.
While the name Kayda has its roots in the Arabic language, it has also been adopted and used in various other cultures and regions over the centuries. From scholars and poets to explorers and military leaders, the name has been associated with individuals who have left a lasting impact on their respective fields and societies.
People
Kayda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kayda 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
Kayda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kayda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 473 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kayda 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 724,639 US residents.
Is Kayda a common name?
We classify Kayda as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 480 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kayda most popular?
The single biggest year for Kayda was 2007, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kayda is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kayda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 410 people with the name Kayda, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,765 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 Kayda 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 Kayda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kayda leans strongly female. 400 people counted with this name were female (97.3%), compared with 11 male bearers (2.7%). 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 Kayda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayda is White at 65.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Hispanic (8.3%). 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 Kayda most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kayda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.9% (270 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 Kayda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kayda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kayda 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 Kayda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kayda 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 Kayda 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 Americans are named Kayda?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.