Kieley
An Anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic name Céilí meaning "elf-companion".
Name Census estimates that about 258 living Americans carry the first name Kieley. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kieley today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kieley births was 2007 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kieley. 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
258
~ 1 in 1,328,505 Americans
Peak year
2007
29 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2013 SSA rank
#12,614
Tracked since 1990
Census
Kieley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 282 people with the first name Kieley, which placed it at #30,717 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
#30,717
National first-name rank
People counted
282
282 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kieley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kieley is White at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.5%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Kieley 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 Kieley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.4% · 221
- Two or more races8.5% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 15
- Black or African American3.9% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.8% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 3
Popularity
Kieley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kieley 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 177 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
Kieley 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 Kieley 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 Kieley
The name Kieley is a modern English variant of the Irish name Cadhla, which is derived from the Gaelic word "cádhal" meaning "handsome" or "beautiful." This name has its origins in ancient Celtic culture, with roots dating back to the early medieval period in Ireland.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Cadhla can be found in Irish annals and manuscripts from the 8th and 9th centuries. It was a popular name among Irish royalty and nobility during this time. The name gained wider recognition in the 12th century when it was borne by Cadhla Ó Duibhdhá, a renowned Irish poet and scholar.
As the name spread across Ireland, it evolved into various spellings such as Keeley, Keelie, and Kieley. One of the earliest recorded examples of the spelling "Kieley" dates back to the 16th century, when it was used as a variant of the Irish name Cadhla.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kieley. In the 17th century, Kieley O'Shaughnessy was a prominent Irish landowner and chieftain in County Galway. In the late 18th century, Kieley O'Donnell was a celebrated Irish harpist and musician who performed for royalty across Europe.
Moving into the 19th century, Kieley Malone was an Irish immigrant to the United States who served as a Union soldier during the American Civil War. In the early 20th century, Kieley McGrath was a renowned Irish playwright and author, known for his works that explored themes of Irish identity and culture.
Another notable figure was Kieley O'Brien, an Irish-American author and journalist who wrote extensively about the experiences of Irish immigrants in the United States during the early 20th century. Her works provided valuable insights into the struggles and triumphs of the Irish-American community.
People
Kieley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kieley 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
Kieley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kieley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 258 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kieley 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 1,328,505 US residents.
Is Kieley a common name?
We classify Kieley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 263 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kieley most popular?
The single biggest year for Kieley was 2007, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kieley is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kieley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 282 people with the name Kieley, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,717 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 Kieley 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 Kieley?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kieley leans strongly female. 265 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.5%). 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 Kieley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kieley is White at 78.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.5%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Kieley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kieley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.4% (221 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 Kieley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kieley a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kieley 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 Kieley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kieley 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 Kieley 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 Americans are named Kieley?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Kieley at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.