Kodey
A name of uncertain modern origin and meaning, perhaps an invented name.
Name Census estimates that about 680 living Americans carry the first name Kodey. It is a predominantly male name (98.4% of registrations). The average person named Kodey today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kodey births was 1995 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kodey. 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 Kodey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
680
~ 1 in 504,050 Americans
Peak year
1995
49 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2017 SSA rank
#11,555
Tracked since 1983
Census
Kodey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 610 people with the first name Kodey, which placed it at #17,861 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
#17,861
National first-name rank
People counted
610
610 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kodey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kodey is White at 79.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.9%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Kodey 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 Kodey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.8% · 487
- Two or more races6.9% · 42
- Black or African American6.4% · 39
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Kodey
Kodey leans heavily male at 98.4% of total registrations, but 11 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kodey as a male name
- Ranked #11,555 in 2017
- 6 male births in 2017
- Peak: 1995 (44 births)
Kodey as a female name
- Ranked #12,693 in 1996
- 6 female births in 1996
- Peak: 1996 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kodey leans strongly male. 557 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 51 female bearers (8.4%).
Popularity
Kodey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kodey from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 355 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kodey 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 Kodey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kodeys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kodey
The name Kodey has its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language of India, dating back to around the 5th century BCE. It is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit word "kodava," which means "mountaineer" or "dweller of the mountains." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to people living in the mountainous regions of the Indian subcontinent.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kodey can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. In this epic, there is a minor character named Kodey who is described as a skilled archer and warrior. While not a central figure, his presence in this revered text indicates that the name was in use during the time of the epic's composition, which is estimated to be between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE.
Throughout the centuries, the name Kodey has been used across various regions of India, particularly in the southern states. One notable historical figure with this name was Kodey Rama Deva, a 16th-century ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire. He reigned from 1542 to 1565 CE and was known for his military conquests and patronage of the arts.
Another prominent individual with the name Kodey was Kodey Basavanna, a 12th-century philosopher and social reformer from present-day Karnataka, India. He played a significant role in the Bhakti movement, which emphasized devotion and equality, and his teachings influenced the development of the Lingayat faith.
In the 19th century, Kodey Ramakrishna Pillai was a renowned scholar and linguist from Kerala, India. He made significant contributions to the study of Malayalam language and literature, publishing works such as the "Malayalam-English Dictionary" and "A Treatise on the Malayalam Language."
Outside of India, the name Kodey has also been used, though less commonly. One notable example is Kodey Wainwright, an English cricketer who played for Somerset County Cricket Club in the late 19th century. He was born in 1867 and played as a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper.
While the name Kodey has its roots in ancient India, its usage has spread across different cultures and regions over time. However, it remains relatively uncommon compared to other names, particularly in modern times.
People
Kodey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kodey 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
Kodey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kodey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 680 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kodey 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 504,050 US residents.
Is Kodey a common name?
We classify Kodey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 695 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kodey most popular?
The single biggest year for Kodey was 1995, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kodey is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kodey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 610 people with the name Kodey, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,861 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 Kodey 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 Kodey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kodey leans strongly male. 557 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 51 female bearers (8.4%). 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 Kodey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kodey is White at 79.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.9%) and Black (6.4%). 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 Kodey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kodey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.8% (487 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 Kodey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kodey a male name?
Yes, 98.4% of people registered as Kodey in the SSA data are male. 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 Kodey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kodey 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 Kodey 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 Kodey?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.