Kayln
Feminine variant of the English name Kaylin, derived from the Norman French word "cahillen" meaning "slender".
Name Census estimates that about 511 living Americans carry the first name Kayln. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kayln today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kayln births was 1995 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kayln. 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 Kayln with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
511
~ 1 in 670,752 Americans
Peak year
1995
29 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2017 SSA rank
#13,387
Tracked since 1983
Census
Kayln in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 630 people with the first name Kayln, which placed it at #17,487 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
#17,487
National first-name rank
People counted
630
630 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kayln
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayln is White at 64.0%. The next largest groups are Black (22.2%) and Hispanic (7.1%). 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 Kayln 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 Kayln at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.0% · 403
- Black or African American22.2% · 140
- Hispanic or Latino7.1% · 45
- Two or more races4.9% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 5
Popularity
Kayln: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kayln from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 226 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Kayln remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kayln 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 Kayln during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaylns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kayln
The name Kayln has its origins in the English language and is believed to have emerged during the late 19th century. It is thought to be a variant spelling of the name Kaylin, which is derived from the Irish Gaelic word "cadhla," meaning "beautiful." The earliest recorded use of the name Kayln dates back to the late 1800s, but it did not gain widespread popularity until the mid-20th century.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Kayln was Kayln Wilcox, an American businesswoman born in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts. She was a pioneering entrepreneur and founded the successful Wilcox Manufacturing Company, which produced household goods and kitchenware.
Another notable figure was Kayln Morrison, a British suffragette and activist born in 1892 in London, England. She played a significant role in the women's suffrage movement and was arrested multiple times for her involvement in protests and demonstrations advocating for women's right to vote.
In the field of literature, Kayln Sinclair was a celebrated American author and poet born in 1915 in New York City. Her works, which often explored themes of love, loss, and the human condition, garnered critical acclaim and won several prestigious literary awards during her lifetime.
Kayln Beaumont, born in 1928 in Paris, France, was a renowned fashion designer whose innovative and avant-garde creations influenced the world of haute couture for several decades. Her designs were favored by celebrities and socialites, and she was widely regarded as a trailblazer in the fashion industry.
Lastly, Kayln Whitaker, an American athlete born in 1943 in Chicago, Illinois, was a pioneering figure in women's basketball. She was a standout player at the collegiate level and later became one of the first female basketball coaches in the United States, paving the way for future generations of women in the sport.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Kayln, each making significant contributions to their respective fields and leaving an indelible mark on society.
People
Kayln + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kayln 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
Kayln: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kayln?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 511 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kayln 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 670,752 US residents.
Is Kayln a common name?
We classify Kayln as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 525 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kayln most popular?
The single biggest year for Kayln was 1995, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kayln is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kayln in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 630 people with the name Kayln, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,487 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 Kayln 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 Kayln?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kayln leans strongly female. 584 people counted with this name were female (93.0%), compared with 44 male bearers (7.0%). 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 Kayln?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kayln is White at 64.0%. The next largest groups are Black (22.2%) and Hispanic (7.1%). 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 Kayln most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kayln in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.0% (403 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 Kayln in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kayln a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kayln 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 Kayln still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kayln 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 Kayln 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 called Kayln?
You can see how many people share the name Kayln on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.