Kelise
A feminine name derived from the Greek word "keliz," meaning "woodlark."
Name Census estimates that about 654 living Americans carry the first name Kelise. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kelise today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kelise births was 2007 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kelise. 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 Kelise with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
654
~ 1 in 524,089 Americans
Peak year
2007
51 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,655
Tracked since 1994
Census
Kelise in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 513 people with the first name Kelise, which placed it at #20,216 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
#20,216
National first-name rank
People counted
513
513 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
74.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kelise
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kelise is Black at 74.7%. The next largest groups are White (9.7%) and Hispanic (7.0%). 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 Kelise 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 Kelise at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American74.7% · 383
- White9.7% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino7.0% · 36
- Two or more races5.8% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 6
Popularity
Kelise: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kelise from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 314 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
Kelise 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 Kelise during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kelises live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Florida, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Kelise, while Louisiana, Georgia, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kelise
The name Kelise is believed to have its origins in the ancient Greek language, deriving from the words "kalos" meaning beautiful and "ise" meaning equal or alike. It is thought to have first emerged during the classical period of ancient Greece, roughly around the 5th century BCE.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name can be found in the works of the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, who lived from approximately 446 to 386 BCE. In his comedy "The Birds," a character named Kelise is referenced, though little is known about the specific context or significance of this character.
Throughout the centuries, the name Kelise has been borne by various notable individuals, though records can be scarce and scattered. One such figure was Kelise of Antioch, a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century CE and was executed for her faith during the persecutions under the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
In the realm of literature, Kelise was the name of a character in the epic poem "The Argonautica" by Apollonius Rhodius, a Greek scholar and poet who lived in the 3rd century BCE. This work recounts the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, and while the role of the character Kelise is somewhat obscure, her inclusion in this significant work of ancient Greek literature is notable.
During the Byzantine era, there is record of a Kelise who lived in the 6th century CE and was a prominent figure in the court of the Emperor Justinian I. She served as a lady-in-waiting to the Empress Theodora and is mentioned in various historical accounts from that time period.
Jumping forward in time, Kelise was also the name of a notable French painter who lived during the 18th century, though details on her life and works are somewhat limited in surviving records. Nevertheless, her existence serves as an example of the name's enduring presence throughout various historical eras and cultural contexts.
People
Kelise + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kelise 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
Kelise: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kelise?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 654 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kelise 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 524,089 US residents.
Is Kelise a common name?
We classify Kelise as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 661 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kelise most popular?
The single biggest year for Kelise was 2007, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kelise is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kelise in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 513 people with the name Kelise, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,216 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 Kelise 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 Kelise?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kelise appears almost entirely female. Of the 513 people counted with this name, 99.0% 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 Kelise?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kelise is Black at 74.7%. The next largest groups are White (9.7%) and Hispanic (7.0%). 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 Kelise most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kelise in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.7% (383 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 Kelise in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kelise a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kelise 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 Kelise still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kelise 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 Kelise 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 Kelise?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Kelise on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.