Kaylinn
A feminine name of Celtic origin meaning "slender and beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 592 living Americans carry the first name Kaylinn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kaylinn today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaylinn births was 2014 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaylinn. 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.
People living today
592
~ 1 in 578,977 Americans
Peak year
2014
35 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#16,406
Tracked since 1989
Census
Kaylinn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 563 people with the first name Kaylinn, which placed it at #18,985 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
#18,985
National first-name rank
People counted
563
563 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kaylinn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaylinn is White at 60.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.2%) and Black (10.5%). 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 Kaylinn 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 Kaylinn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.2% · 339
- Hispanic or Latino19.2% · 108
- Black or African American10.5% · 59
- Two or more races6.2% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 8
Popularity
Kaylinn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaylinn from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 235 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kaylinn 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 Kaylinn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaylinns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kaylinn, while Ohio, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 10 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaylinn
The name Kaylinn is a relatively modern English variant of the traditional Scottish name Cailean or Callan. It emerged in the late 20th century, likely as a feminine form of the male name Kaylen or Kalen. The name's roots can be traced back to the Gaelic word "callan" or "caillean," which means "bright-headed" or "young lad."
The earliest recorded instances of the name Cailean or Callan date back to the Middle Ages in Scotland. It was a popular name among Scottish clans and noble families, particularly in the Highlands. Some historical records suggest that the name may have been derived from the Latin name "Colinus," which itself came from the Roman family name "Columna."
While the name Kaylinn is a modern invention, the traditional Scottish name Cailean has been associated with several notable figures throughout history. One of the most famous was Cailean Mór (or Colin the Great), a 13th-century Scottish warrior and chief of the Clan MacKenzie. Another notable bearer of the name was Cailean Óg (or Colin the Younger), a 16th-century Scottish lord and chief of the Clan MacLean.
Beyond Scotland, the name Cailean and its variants have appeared in various historical records and texts. In Ireland, it was sometimes anglicized as "Callan" or "Callahan." In England, a similar name, "Collin," was derived from the Old French form of the Latin "Colinus."
As the name Kaylinn is a modern creation, there are few historical figures who bore this precise spelling. However, some notable individuals with similar names include Kaylyn Stevenson (born 1985), an American actress, and Kaylynn Roberson (born 1982), an American basketball player. Additionally, the name Kaylen or Kalen has been borne by figures such as Kaylen Loyd (born 1995), an American football player, and Kalen Schlatter (born 1992), a Canadian actress.
People
Kaylinn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaylinn 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
Kaylinn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaylinn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 592 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaylinn 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 578,977 US residents.
Is Kaylinn a common name?
We classify Kaylinn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 601 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaylinn most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaylinn was 2014, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaylinn 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 Kaylinn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 563 people with the name Kaylinn, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,985 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 Kaylinn 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 Kaylinn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaylinn appears almost entirely female. Of the 563 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 Kaylinn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaylinn is White at 60.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.2%) and Black (10.5%). 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 Kaylinn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kaylinn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.2% (339 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 Kaylinn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kaylinn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kaylinn 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 Kaylinn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kaylinn 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 Kaylinn 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 Kaylinn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.