Kelle
An English feminine name derived from Cornish roots meaning "woods".
Name Census estimates that about 2,032 living Americans carry the first name Kelle. It is a predominantly female name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Kelle today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kelle births was 1962 (100 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kelle. 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
2.0K
~ 1 in 168,678 Americans
Peak year
1962
100 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1992 SSA rank
#9,152
Tracked since 1950
Gender
Gender distribution for Kelle
Kelle leans heavily female at 98.2% of total registrations, but 43 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kelle as a male name
- Ranked #9,152 in 1992
- 5 male births in 1992
- Peak: 1964 (6 births)
Kelle as a female name
- Ranked #17,075 in 2003
- 5 female births in 2003
- Peak: 1962 (100 births)
Popularity
Kelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kelle from the 1950s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 916 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kelle 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 Kelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 18 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Kelle, while Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 39 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kelle
The name Kelle is a German variant of the feminine name Kella, which is believed to have its origins in the Old High German word "kella" or "chella," meaning "cellar" or "cave." This connection suggests that the name may have been initially associated with individuals who lived in or worked in cellars or caves.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kelle can be found in the 12th century, when it was mentioned in the Codex Traditionum Monasterii Sancti Petri Salisburgensis, a medieval manuscript containing records of the Archbishopric of Salzburg. This document provides evidence that the name was in use during the High Middle Ages in the region of present-day Austria and southern Germany.
In the 16th century, the name Kelle gained prominence through the life of Kelle Weyse, a German Benedictine nun and abbess who lived from 1529 to 1599. She served as the abbess of the Monastery of St. John in Münsterschwarzach, Bavaria, and was known for her piety and leadership.
Another notable figure with the name Kelle was Kelle von Luder, a German noblewoman and landowner who lived in the 14th century. She was born in 1320 and owned extensive properties in the region of Hesse, which she bequeathed to the Teutonic Order upon her death in 1386.
In the realm of literature, the name Kelle appears in the works of the German writer and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In his novel "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" (The Sorrows of Young Werther), published in 1774, one of the characters is named Kelle Lenette.
Kelle Stine was a Danish writer and translator who lived from 1842 to 1915. She is known for her translations of works by renowned authors such as Charles Dickens and Hans Christian Andersen, as well as for her own literary contributions, including the novel "Inger Johanne" published in 1889.
While the name Kelle has its roots in German-speaking regions, it has also been used in other parts of the world, although with less frequency. It is important to note that this report focuses solely on the first name Kelle and does not cover its usage as a surname or last name.
People
Kelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kelle 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
Kelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,032 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kelle 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 168,678 US residents.
Is Kelle a common name?
We classify Kelle as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,345 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Kelle was 1962, when 100 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kelle is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kelle a female name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Kelle 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.
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.