Kaylee
A feminine name derived from the English word "key".
Name Census estimates that about 137,162 living Americans carry the first name Kaylee. It sits at #220 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kaylee today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaylee births was 2009 (7,225 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaylee. 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 Kaylee with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kaylee is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 176 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
137K
~ 1 in 2,499 Americans
Peak year
2009
7,225 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2015 SSA rank
#220
Tracked since 1943
Census
Kaylee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 115,418 people with the first name Kaylee, which placed it at #488 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
#488
National first-name rank
People counted
115K
115,418 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
38.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kaylee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaylee is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.9%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Kaylee 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 Kaylee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.2% · 81,010
- Hispanic or Latino15.9% · 18,383
- Two or more races5.1% · 5,928
- Black or African American4.8% · 5,490
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 3,506
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 1,101
Gender
Gender distribution for Kaylee
Out of the 139,375 babies given the name Kaylee since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Kaylee as a male name
- Ranked #11,418 in 2015
- 6 male births in 2015
- Peak: 2004 (47 births)
Kaylee as a female name
- Ranked #220 in 2024
- 1,392 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (7,219 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaylee appears almost entirely female. Of the 115,422 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Kaylee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaylee from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 56,543 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
Kaylee 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 Kaylee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaylees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kaylee, while District of Columbia, Vermont, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,712 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaylee
The name Kaylee is an English name that originated in the late 20th century. It is a variation of the name Kayla, which is derived from the Hebrew name Kaʻila, meaning "laurel plant." The name Kaʻila is a biblical name mentioned in the Book of Numbers as one of the wives of Lamech.
The first known recorded use of the name Kaylee dates back to the 1960s, when it was used as a variant spelling of Kayla. It gained popularity in the United States in the 1990s, likely influenced by the TV show "Firefly," which featured a character named Kaylee Frye, played by Jewel Staite.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kaylee was Kaylee DeFer, an American actress born in 1986. She is best known for her roles in movies such as "Gossip" and "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1."
Another notable figure named Kaylee is Kaylee Hartung, an American journalist and sportscaster born in 1985. She has worked for various networks, including ESPN and ABC News.
In literature, the name Kaylee appears in the novel "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" by Ann Brashares, published in 2001. One of the main characters is named Kaylee.
Kaylee Preston, born in 1988, is an American adult film actress and model. She has won several awards in the adult entertainment industry.
Kaylee Merrill, born in 1994, is a Canadian actress known for her role as Juliette Holliday on the TV series "The Tomorrow People."
While the name Kaylee is relatively modern, it has gained popularity in recent decades and has been used by several notable individuals across various fields, including acting, journalism, and literature.
People
Kaylee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaylee 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
Kaylee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaylee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 137,162 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaylee 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 2,499 US residents.
Is Kaylee a common name?
We classify Kaylee as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 139,375 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaylee most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaylee was 2009, when 7,225 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaylee is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kaylee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 115,418 people with the name Kaylee, or 38.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #488 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 Kaylee 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 Kaylee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaylee appears almost entirely female. Of the 115,422 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Kaylee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaylee is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.9%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Kaylee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kaylee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.2% (81,010 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 Kaylee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kaylee a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Kaylee 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 Kaylee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kaylee 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 Kaylee 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 Kaylee?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Kaylee at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.