Keyla
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "beautiful."
Name Census estimates that about 9,401 living Americans carry the first name Keyla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Keyla today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Keyla births was 2016 (428 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Keyla. 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 Keyla with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Keyla is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
9.4K
~ 1 in 36,459 Americans
Peak year
2016
428 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#805
Tracked since 1961
Census
Keyla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,931 people with the first name Keyla, which placed it at #2,885 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
#2,885
National first-name rank
People counted
7.9K
7,931 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
85.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Keyla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keyla is Hispanic at 85.6%. The next largest groups are White (7.1%) and Black (5.8%). 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 Keyla 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 Keyla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino85.6% · 6,789
- White7.1% · 561
- Black or African American5.8% · 462
- Two or more races0.7% · 55
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 26
Popularity
Keyla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Keyla from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,582 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Keyla remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Keyla 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 Keyla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Keylas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Keyla, while Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 230 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Keyla
The name Keyla is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language, with roots dating back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic word "kayla," which means "measure" or "weight." The name is thought to have been introduced to the Middle East during the rise of Islam and the spread of Arabic culture and language throughout the region.
In its early days, the name Keyla was primarily associated with the Arabic-speaking world, including regions such as the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, and parts of the Middle East. It gained popularity among Muslim communities and was often used to convey a sense of balance, moderation, and fairness – qualities associated with the concept of "measure" or "weight."
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Keyla can be found in ancient Arabic poetry and literature from the 8th and 9th centuries CE. During this period, the name was often used as a symbolic representation of virtue and righteousness.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Keyla. One such figure was Keyla bint al-Azwar (born circa 720 CE), a renowned Arabian poet and scholar who lived during the Abbasid Caliphate. Her works were widely celebrated for their eloquence and profound insights into human nature.
Another prominent figure was Keyla al-Hadrami (1095-1170 CE), a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from Yemen. She was highly respected for her vast knowledge of Islamic law and her contribution to the development of legal thought within the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence.
In the 13th century, Keyla al-Baghdadi (1212-1289 CE) gained recognition as a skilled calligrapher and manuscript illuminator. Her intricate and beautiful works adorned many important Islamic texts and manuscripts during her lifetime.
Keyla al-Dimashqiya (1325-1398 CE) was a renowned Syrian poet and mystic who lived during the Mamluk period. Her poetry was deeply influenced by Sufism and explored themes of divine love and spiritual enlightenment.
In more recent times, Keyla Cueva (born 1983) is a notable Ecuadorian actress and model who has appeared in several telenovelas and films, showcasing her talent and versatility on the screen.
While the name Keyla has maintained a strong presence in the Arabic-speaking world, it has also gained popularity in other regions, particularly in Latin America and parts of Europe, where it has taken on various spellings and cultural adaptations.
People
Keyla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Keyla 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
Keyla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Keyla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,401 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Keyla 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 36,459 US residents.
Is Keyla a common name?
We classify Keyla as "Rare". It ranks above 97.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,547 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Keyla most popular?
The single biggest year for Keyla was 2016, when 428 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Keyla is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Keyla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,931 people with the name Keyla, or 2.63 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,885 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 Keyla 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 Keyla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Keyla appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,927 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Keyla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Keyla is Hispanic at 85.6%. The next largest groups are White (7.1%) and Black (5.8%). 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 Keyla most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Keyla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.6% (6,789 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 Keyla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Keyla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Keyla 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 Keyla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Keyla 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 Keyla 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 common is the name Keyla?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.