Kielee
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly an invented name.
Name Census estimates that about 148 living Americans carry the first name Kielee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kielee today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kielee births was 2006 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kielee. 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
148
~ 1 in 2,315,908 Americans
Peak year
2006
20 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2012 SSA rank
#18,285
Tracked since 1997
Census
Kielee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 176 people with the first name Kielee, which placed it at #41,537 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
#41,537
National first-name rank
People counted
176
176 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kielee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kielee is White at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.1%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Kielee 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 Kielee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.3% · 129
- Hispanic or Latino13.1% · 23
- Two or more races7.4% · 13
- Black or African American6.3% · 11
Popularity
Kielee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kielee from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 117 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
Kielee 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 Kielee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kielee
The given name Kielee has its origins rooted in the ancient Celtic languages spoken across parts of Europe, particularly in regions that are now known as Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Linguists trace the name back to the Proto-Celtic word "kailios," which translates to "healthy" or "strong." This linguistic connection suggests that Kielee was originally bestowed upon children as a wish for good health and vitality.
The earliest known recorded use of the name Kielee dates back to the 5th century AD, where it appears in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient chronicle documenting the history of Ulster, Ireland. In this text, Kielee is mentioned as the name of a local chieftain who ruled over a small territory in what is now County Down, Northern Ireland.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Kielee maintained a presence in various Irish and Scottish communities, albeit with slight variations in spelling, such as Keilie, Keelie, or Keilagh. One notable figure from this era was Kielee O'Malley, a 12th-century Irish noblewoman who played a pivotal role in the defense of her clan's lands against Viking raids.
As the use of surnames became more prevalent in the 13th and 14th centuries, Kielee was also adopted as a surname, particularly in Ireland and Scotland. However, its usage as a given name persisted, though it remained relatively uncommon outside of certain regions.
In the 16th century, a notable figure named Kielee MacKenzie was born in the Scottish Highlands around 1550. Kielee MacKenzie was a skilled warrior and leader who fought alongside the famous Clan MacKenzie during the Scottish clan wars of the late 16th century.
Another historical figure bearing the name Kielee was Kielee O'Donnell, an Irish noblewoman who lived in the 17th century. She was renowned for her patronage of the arts and her support for Irish culture during a time of political and social upheaval in Ireland.
Despite its ancient roots and historical significance, the name Kielee remained relatively obscure and was rarely encountered outside of certain regions of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales until more recent times. Its usage as a given name experienced a resurgence in the late 20th century, particularly among families with Celtic heritage who sought to revive traditional names from their ancestral cultures.
People
Kielee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kielee 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
Kielee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kielee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 148 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kielee 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 2,315,908 US residents.
Is Kielee a common name?
We classify Kielee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 150 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kielee most popular?
The single biggest year for Kielee was 2006, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kielee is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kielee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 176 people with the name Kielee, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,537 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 Kielee 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 Kielee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kielee appears almost entirely female. Of the 183 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Kielee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kielee is White at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.1%) and Two or More Races (7.4%). 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 Kielee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kielee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.3% (129 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 Kielee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kielee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kielee 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 Kielee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kielee 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 Kielee 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 named Kielee?
Want to know how many Americans are named Kielee? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.