Kiely
An anglicized form of an Irish name meaning "bright-headed" or "bright-haired".
Name Census estimates that about 823 living Americans carry the first name Kiely. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kiely today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kiely births was 2008 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kiely. 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
823
~ 1 in 416,469 Americans
Peak year
2008
52 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,366
Tracked since 1969
Census
Kiely in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 814 people with the first name Kiely, which placed it at #14,472 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
#14,472
National first-name rank
People counted
814
814 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kiely
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kiely is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.3%) and Black (8.0%). 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 Kiely 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 Kiely at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.8% · 576
- Hispanic or Latino10.3% · 84
- Black or African American8.0% · 65
- Two or more races6.5% · 53
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 9
Popularity
Kiely: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kiely from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 365 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
Kiely 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 Kiely during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kielys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Massachusetts, New York recorded the most babies named Kiely, while Texas, New York, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kiely
The name Kiely is derived from the Irish Gaelic surname Ó Cadhla, which means "descendant of Cadhla." Cadhla was a personal name derived from the word "cathla," meaning "valor" or "battle." The name has its roots in ancient Ireland, where it was primarily used in the province of Munster.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kiely can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history compiled in the 17th century. The text mentions a notable figure named Conor Kiely, who lived in the 14th century and was a member of the powerful Ó Cadhla clan.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the first name Kiely. One such figure was Kiely O'Donovan, an Irish poet and historian who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. O'Donovan was renowned for his works on Irish genealogy and history, including the "Book of Munster."
Another prominent Kiely was Kiely O'Sullivan, an Irish chieftain who led the Clan O'Sullivan during the Elizabethan conquest of Munster in the late 16th century. O'Sullivan is remembered for his role in the Battle of Glendalough, where he fought against English forces led by Sir Walter Raleigh.
In more recent times, Kiely Rodni was an American teenager who gained national attention in 2022 after her disappearance from a party in Truckee, California. Her case sparked a massive search effort and brought attention to the issue of missing persons cases involving young people.
Kiely Williams, born in 1986, is an American singer and actress best known as a former member of the girl group 3LW and for her role in the Disney Channel movie "The Cheetah Girls." She has also appeared in various television shows and films throughout her career.
Over the centuries, the name Kiely has maintained a strong connection to its Irish roots, serving as a testament to the rich cultural heritage of Ireland and the enduring legacy of Gaelic names.
People
Kiely + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kiely 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
Kiely: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kiely?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 823 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kiely 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 416,469 US residents.
Is Kiely a common name?
We classify Kiely as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 843 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kiely most popular?
The single biggest year for Kiely was 2008, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kiely is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kiely in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 814 people with the name Kiely, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,472 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 Kiely 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 Kiely?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kiely leans strongly female. 779 people counted with this name were female (95.9%), compared with 33 male bearers (4.1%). 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 Kiely?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kiely is White at 70.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.3%) and Black (8.0%). 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 Kiely most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kiely in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.8% (576 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 Kiely in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kiely a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kiely 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 Kiely still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kiely 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 Kiely 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 called Kiely?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.